Darkness…It surrounded him so it wouldn't have mattered if he had his eyes open or closed, he wouldn't have noticed a change in the nothingness. Deprived of his senses, he floated in it reliving his last moments, the last of his pitiful existence.

"I could have done it Father!" he said with a fervor so unlike him. He was desperate, for what he couldn't say. He needed something, a nod, a gesture, something to prove that what he did was worth the effort he put.

It was a vast challenge, having to put many fronts in order to get what he wanted…but it all came crumbling down with those two words:

"No, Loki."

Everything he worked for, gone.

The child gasped as her eyes flew open. The faces of her fellow apostates, covered in crimson blood, filled her vision and she felt like being sick.

"Back up! She gonna puke!" teased one of the older boys. Amidst the reprimands aimed at the boy, she moved away from the group but didn't get far before-

'Ewws' and 'gross' surrounded her as she spewed the meager breakfast until she couldn't even stand. She barely heard the adults reprimanding the boys and only stopped when she felt the familiar wave of healing from Te' asu, the only elf that knew anything about healing in their entire group.

Even with all the rumors, back from before they escaped the Tower, on how he lost his eye, along with the large scar across his neck were found out to be made up, she still found herself being the only one who would talk to him. He was the only one who didn't yell or look disappointed when she did something wrong.

"You push yourself too much, da'len" he whispered to her as he helped her up. She brushed him off with mumbled thanks as she noticed Devin coming over. Devin never did like Te' asu, thought he was 'a no-good, knife ear wimp of a mage!'

Devin led the revolt back in the Tower that ended up with six dead Templars to their twenty fallen comrades. Of the remaining survivors, half were left behind, so only fourteen remained, hiding from the Templars waiting to kill them. Although not the oldest, which was to Almena who was close to forty-two, he was the one who embraced the first Pride Demon to offer him power and so he became the most powerful.

"So, what did you summon for your partner?" he demanded by way of greeting. He was always a stern man and now being away from all Templar scrutiny made him even more…grim. His gaunt face and tattered robes made the man look even more unbalanced as he stared daggers into the girl. She looked away.

"ANSWER ME!" he roared. The cave fell silent and now all eyes were on the three of them. Everyone else had come to some agreement with a lesser demon and the only ones left were Te' asu and herself.

She shook her head as she braced herself for the beating that would follow. As much as she tried, she could not call attention to herself while in the Fade. It was as if she became invisible to the demon's sight and the others envied her, until they had their own demons and left her even more alone than before.

She heard Devin scoff and storm off, muttering all the while under his breath. The cave resumed its hushed conversations.

How long had he been stuck in this nothingness, floating through with not a thought going through his mind? Hours, ages, but perhaps just a moment had passed outside the "Void" and he had gained nothing but the bitter taste of the defeat. It must have been a while, since when he thinks about it now he doesn't feel so much shame from it as when he first fell. The 'life' that he led in "here" didn't have much to offer: after he lost his voice a few times, and remembered the exact wording of every single book he had ever read had only amused his thoughts before he became silent. Was this a penance then, for what he had done to his f-?

Loki blinked, derailing his train of thought. Something had caught his attention, an actual thing in the void. He stared at it for a while and it shimmered a bit.

'A light? C…Could it mean a way out?' he wondered, blinking again to make sure his eyes were working and he wasn't imagining anything.

He slowly stood, his legs wobbling under him from a lack of use, and headed for the general direction of the shimmering light. It bobbed in an obvious display of excitement, complete with flashing lights too, and Loki felt his lips straining to remember what it was like to genuinely smile at…well anything really.

"I…I'm coming," he rasped out when the light pulsed with purple, or was it bluish, light when he paused for a moment. It bobbed again and even came a bit closer when he was only a short distance from it.

From the moment he stepped foot into the grey colored Circle Tower, Te' asu knew he didn't want to be involved with anything that had to do with the human called Devin. A week after he had managed to settle in, he had been approached by Devin with a simple proposition: "Hey, if you ever want to round your ears, I'd be happy to do it for you, Knife-Ear."

Needless to say, Te' asu responded with a polite "Piss off" and when the human hadn't left, he set the teen on fire before covering him in ice. So began the rivalry (that Devin thought had existed and Te' asu strived to ignore) in that so five years had passed before she arrived.

He had been sweeping the foyer when both the Knight Commander and the First Enchanter had walked through the steel doors. He paused for a moment and then the Templars had brought HER in. She was the oddest human the elf had seen in his time at the Tower: Lightly tanned skin, hair that shone a fiery copper, with deep purple eyes that seemed to see far into the Beyond, and clothes that would be better called cleaning rags. Te' asu felt his insides clench when she passed him by with her head held high and both hands curled protectively around her belly, obviously swollen to show her pregnancy.

Both leaders had doubts with the woman being of magical talent until she set a tapestry aflame with a nod of her head and a cocky grin sent Te' asu's way. Soon after, the Knight Commander sent the woman to take her Harrowing. The First Enchanter denied the Commander's request stating that it would be better off to wait for the baby to be born before they did anything drastic.

The conversation went back and forth before the leaders agreed and by the end of the day the woman was a part of the Circle…and staying in the room next to Te' asu.

That night, after everyone else had long gone to bed, Te' asu had awoken to the sound of someone humming. It was a lowly, haunting tune and it sounded eerily beautiful. He sat up in his bed and slowly made his way to the door. Here, the humming was louder and he pushed the door open.

The woman sat by the wall, with eyes closed and hands clasped by her knees. Te' asu didn't know how to speak to her, for fear of stopping the song, to show that he was listening when she looked at him. Her darkened eyes showed a blend of mischief and danger. Te' asu blinked when he noticed the Templar lying by her and he realized that the Templar was snoring. She had put a Templar into a very deep sleep, given the volume of the snores.

She stood up and strode over to him. Te' asu jumped from her sudden closeness and felt his insides lurch again when she grabbed hold of his hands. Her humming had switched to lowly spoken words and increased in tempo as she began to spin him around.

"W-wait," he hissed but she ignored him. She kept her song and the whirling dance going. The hallway blurred against the torchlight and Te' asu felt as though she was separating his soul from his body. For how long she kept at it, he couldn't tell. But when he did regain his sense of self, Te' asu noticed the sun was nearing noontime and he was back in bed, looking for the most part as though he had never even moved.

Every day after that night, Te' asu noticed that the woman was always silent. She never spoke, not at suppertime, not when casting spells or pulling tricks, and most certainly not when the Leaders tried to get her to say something about her child. She never did her 'humming dance' again and Te' asu wondered what the point was.

No one knew her name since she never told anyone, not even the First Enchanter, and that drove the Knight Commander irate. There were days she fasted, poked and prodded by the mages learning to heal and give birth, and with a company of five Templars following her all day long, hoping to make her crack and say something, anything. Nevertheless, she stayed silent, sometimes nodding her thanks but mostly icing her fellow mages when pushed too far within a training exercise. However, she had never used her magic or even made a rude gesture his way…and every day her stomach served as a reminder to the life she carried.

Loki stared at the pulsing light before it flared brightly. He closed his eyes before opening them to see that the light had turned into the figure of a woman.

The 'woman' had blazing eyes, offset by her violet hair and pale skin. She wore a flowing robe of a deep blue hue and her enigmatic smile made him wonder if he should have just ignored the light and kept w-thinking about how to escape the "Void".

"You have been here for a while now, Odinson" she spoke with an ethereal echo "and I know you wish for a way out…but it will not be as easy as when you came here." She began to float away, beckoning him to follow.

Loki stared at her, with narrowed eyes. "How do you know my… given name, Spirit?" he whispered as he crossed his arms. The woman kept on wearing that infuriating smile of hers. "So, you're giving me the silent treatment? How very original, Spirit."

She paused and watched the disgraced immortal with amused eyes. "I am not just a spirit, Odinson. I-"

"Do not call me that!" he croaked out and she merely raised a brow at Loki's reaction. He felt his cheeks get a bit warm as he averted his eyes. She 'hmm-ed' at Loki before moving over to stand next to him.

"Then should I call you by your other titles, Silvertounge or maybe Trickster?" she echoed into his ear and Loki moved away from her. "Or perhaps even-"

"If you know of my titles, then you know who I am Spirit," Loki snapped back at her. With each word spoken, he felt his voice grow stronger. "So why don't you speak what you want from me or leave me be?"

Her robes stopped swirling and she had finally lost her smile. The bright light in her eyes dimmed as she spoke, "Such rude manners, is this the way a prince is taught to speak to others? Perhaps you are not the only exiled being left to wander the Aimless Void, devoid of any form of peace from past mistakes." Her words cut Loki to his core and he suddenly felt like crawling underneath a rock to hide from her gaze. "…very well, if you feel that I do not have anything of importance to say to you, O Grand Immortal, then I will leave you be." The woman gave him a nod before turning away and Loki felt a rare pang of guilt. He hadn't meant to drive her away; he just wanted a straightforward answer. He followed after her, along a path that appeared from the woman's footsteps.

"Wait please." his footsteps thrumming against the glowing path.

The clanking of armor and the crunch of steel steps against the stone floor seemed to echo deafeningly to the Templar-in-training. The young man's heart pounded against his ribcage as he followed his superiors deeper and deeper into the caverns where rumors of the escaped Circle Tower mages seemed to be. The trainee kept his guard up, taking the stories on how caves could hide even the largest spiders in the most smallest of cracks. He shuddered quietly; he LOATHED spiders. So intent was his focus for the eight-legged beasts that he yelped in alarm when he bumped against his stopped teammate and turned a deep shade of crimson when they all turned to stare at him.

"Ye sure it was wise to bring the rookie, Cap'n? He's jumpier than a rabbit when a Mabari's close by," spoke the blond-haired man closest to the captain, scoffing at the trainee's outburst. The man stroked his beard as he watched the Templar the boy bumped into began to scold him.

"It's the only way the boy can learn how to master his fears, Candors. If I recall correctly, you were just like him," the Captain whispered back as she strode back toward them. The Lieutenant frowned as the Captain went and quietly spoke to the squabbling pair. After a moment, the group managed to form a rough semi-circle in the narrow tunnel.

"All right, we all know why we're here," started Candors, leaning his Great Sword against the nearest stalagmite. "Those murderin' Blood Mages from the Islet Tower 'ave been spotted around here and it is our job to bring 'em in alive to be Tranquil'ed. The cave openings near the sea were sealed with traps jus' in case they were tipped. We give them a single chance to surrender. If, and onlyif, they decide to fight back we strike 'em down, got it?" The Lieutenant looked up from his quick sketch in the ground to stare at the group.

Even though most of their faces were covered, Candors could feel their excitement for battle from all but the trainee. He wondered if the boy would grow to be like the others: power hungry and always itching for an uprising to bring down the mages they swore to protect. Candors gave his captain a nod and she took over explaining the details of the plan.

Loki blinked away the spots on his eyes as the path flashed brightly before striding after the woman. She slowed down enough so that they ended up walking side by side. The duo were silent, the 'swish' of their clothes were the only sounds reaching their ears.

"…I was banished here, on purpose." the woman spoke suddenly. He said nothing, waiting for her to continue. A moment passed and she began to speak again. "My jailers were unaware of the consequences that were made from their decisions. They wanted my past, wondering why I had so much power when none of my other siblings showed any special talent."

Loki turned his head to look at the woman better. Her face showed pain and anguish but she kept the tears at bay before slowing down. He stopped and turned towards her.

Words: 2615

Prompt: (AU) As Loki fell into the black hole at the end of "Thor", he felt a pull of magic that landed him on a rocky shore in a nameless world. Forcibly bound to an apprentice by Blood Magic, he must watch over and guide her until the magic can be reversed.