JUNE 3rd, 2011; ASGARD
Loki held onto Thor's hammer for dear life. His helmet had already fallen into the bottomless void along with the Bifrost Bridge. Odin was holding onto Thor's wrist, and Thor was holding his hammer with a tight grip. Powerful winds beat against them, causing Loki to sway back and forth over the void. Everything had been ruined. If only Thor would have died on Midgard, then the Bifrost would have ripped apart Jotunheim, and Odin would have awoken to find that his mortal enemies had been wiped off the plane of reality and to see that Loki was, indeed, a worthy son.
"I could have done it father," Loki called out to Odin, "I could have done it. For you! For all of us!"
Loki looked desperately up to his father for approval. What he saw was only coldness. It was the same coldness that Odin always looked upon Loki with.
"No, Loki," Odin replied.
Two words. That was all that it took. Loki saw that it was futile. He would always just be the second-rate son in Odin's eyes, no matter what he did or how hard he tried. There was no point. He would never be king. He would never be accepted. It was all for nothing. With nothing left for him, Loki released his grip on the hammer. He vaguely heard Thor call out in the distance, but he took no heed to it. He just closed his eyes and plummeted into the abyss.
JUNE 4th, 2011; UNCHARTED SPACE
When Loki awoke, he was laying flat on the ground, face down. His fingers twitched, and he took in a deep breath. He slowly opened his eyes and pulled himself up. Loki studied the area around him. He was on a strange, rocky terrain, and it appeared to be night since all of the stars in the sky were visible.
"I was beginning to think that you'd never wake," a voice from behind him echoed.
Loki whirled around to see an imposing figure looming in the darkness. Loki's first instinct was to try to frighten off the creature by declaring his god-hood, but he thought better of it. The tactic had a tendency to backfire in most unpleasant ways. Loki, instead held his ground and kept his eyes locked on the shadowy figure.
"Who goes there?" Loki asked.
The shadowy figure chuckled and stepped out of the shadows. The figure wore blue and golden armor, and his skin was dull shade of violet. His eyes glimmered blue, and the smirk on his face revealed devious intent.
"I am Thanos," the figure's voice rumbled, "As all who dwell on this side of the universe would know. Now, if you would please reciprocate the introduction."
"I am Loki," he replied, "The rightful king of Asgard."
"A king?" Thanos chuckled, "It would seem that your kingdom has been lost to you, Asgardian."
Loki clenched his teeth. This Thanos figure had the audacity to laugh at his pain. It caused Loki's anger to boil within him. However, he kept his anger under control. Anger made battles positively unwinnable, and Loki did not want to put himself in that situation, at least not while Thanos remained a mystery to him.
"I can see that I have angered you, Asgardian," Thanos said as if reading Loki's mind, "But do not grow angry. For, you see, I too have been exiled from my people."
Loki looked up at Thanos now with more curiosity than contempt. Could his fall from grace have truly given him a kindred spirit? Sometimes fate developed in bizarre machinations. As it turned out, however, Thanos was far from the kindred spirit that Loki was looking for. Thanos was, to put it bluntly, a monster. He was hopelessly in love with Lady Death herself, and had devoted his very existence to pleasing her. Genocide and unprovoked destruction were Thanos's personal favorite past times, all done as a tribute to Death.
Loki felt uneasy about throwing in his lot with this monster, but he dared not cross Thanos, for fear of endangering his own well-being. In actuality, Thanos likely would have already killed Loki if the dethroned Asgardian hadn't shared with him what he knew of Odin's lost treasures, the Tesseract and the Demitesseract. Loki didn't know much about the blue gems other than that they allowed Odin to create the Bifrost bridge. Both had slipped through Odin's fingers. The Tesseract fell through a portal to Midgard long ago in an accident. The Demitesseract, the lesser of the two, was stolen from Odin nearly thirty years ago by a portal jumper. Thanos was enthralled by Loki's stories about the gems. According to Thanos, these gems were the only known objects capable of opening portals to a "land without magic," like Midgard. Loki, therefore, should not have been as surprised as he was when Thanos called him up to the throne to discuss these gems.
OCTOBER 23rd, 2011; THRONE OF THANOS
"I have discovered the location of the Demitesseract of which you spoke," Thanos announced.
"The one stolen by the portal jumper," Loki stated, "How, might I ask?"
Thnos chuckled his deep, throaty laugh that always managed to make Loki feel unsettled.
"I am a man of great power, Asgradian," Thanos replied, "Through my meditations, I have located the world upon which the Demitesseract now resides. It is a world that has been trapped in sleep for a score and eight years. Long ago, most of its inhabitants were ripped away and transported to Midgard."
"The handiwork of the Demitesseract, no doubt," Loki stated.
"That was my conslusion as well," Thanos nodded, "I want you to travel to this world and find the Demitesseract. Once it is in our hands, we can open a portal to Midgard."
Loki raised his eyebrow in confusion.
"But why would we want to open a portal to Midgard?" Loki questioned.
"To obtain the Tesseract, of course," Thanos replied, "You yourself said before that the Demitesseract is the lesser gem. It is only able to open a portal to the Tesseract, whereas the Tesseract can act completely independently and grant me passageway to all sides of the multiverse. Imagine the destruction I can reap then. No world will ever be safe from my wrath."
"And what do I get in return?" Loki inquired.
"Did you not tell me that your hated brother cared more for a Midgardian woman more than he did for you?" Thanos said, "This is your chance to give him retribution. Make the world into a wasteland. Punish all of the Midgardians for this offense."
The idea appealed to Loki, however, mindless destruction was wasteful, and Loki had never been one for waste.
"I want to rule Midgard," Loki said after a second's pause, "I want to be a king once more. I deliver you the Tesseract, in exchange, I get to rule over earth. I shall use the Tesseract to open a portal, and you can send the Chitauri armies in to help me in forcing the Midgardians into submission."
"Very well," Thanos said, "You shall be allowed to rule Midgard. Use the Tesseract to open a portal here, and you shall have the army of the Chitauri to aid you in making the Midgardians submit."
"Thank you, Lord Thanos," Loki replied.
The idea was ridiculous and doomed to fail. The Chitauri were indeed fearsome warriors, but they operated with a hive mind, and, should their "queen" ship be destroyed, they too would forfeit their life. And knowing how resourceful Thor could be if he were able to intervene, the possibility of the Chitauri failing was likely. However, the failure of the Chitauri would permit him to escape from under Thanos's thumb. A little batting of his eye lashes and Odin would take him right back in as a son. If the Chitauri did somehow succeed? Then he'd take his prize of Midgard, and try to put Thanos's destruction of the universe out of mind. If Thanos ended up killing him anyway? Well, then he'd finally get the prize he sought after the day he fell into the void. No matter the outcome, this would end favorably for him.
"Now, then," Thanos began again, "To send you to this world where the Demitesseract is located. It is a land with magic, and, thus, a dark passageway can be opened to it."
Thanos extended the palm of his hand outward and a swirl of black and purple smoke appeared before them. Loki smirked, now sure of his mission, and proceeded through the portal.
OCTOBER 23rd, 2011; ENCHANTED FOREST
There he lie, powerless on the floor. Once, the mighty Dark One, now, he was merely a miserable wretch at the mercy of the shrewd pirate. Ever since Milah's death, Hook had worked towards this moment: the moment when the light of life left Rumplestiltskin's eyes.
"Please," Rumplestiltskin whimpered, "I never meant to hurt you, oh Captain. I didn't want to incurr your wrath."
"Well, you should have thought of that before you killed Milah," Hook growled, leaning in closer to Rumplestiltskin's face, "She might have been your wife, but she and I possessed something stronger than marriage. We had true love, something your black heart wouldn't understand. And now, you're going to feel the wrath of a man who has lost that love."
Hook brought his hook down into Rumplestiltskin's shoulder, prompting a cry of anguish from the former Dark One. A stream of bright red blood trickled from the wound as the captain dislodged his hook from Rumplestiltskin's shoulder blade.
"You feel that?" Hook growled, "That's just the beginning of your pain."
"Please," Rumplestiltskin whimpered.
Hook only grinned in reply. He then brought his hook down to the Dark One's exposed stomach and began to carve into his flesh. Rumplestiltskin cried out in pain as Hook sliced through his now all too human skin. When Hook had finally completed his task, "MILAH" had been carved onto Rumplestiltskin's stomach, though it was barely legible beneath the blood that poured from the wounds.
"That's to remind you of the woman whose life you stole," Hook growled, "The woman that this vengeance is really about."
"Please," Rumplestiltskin gurled through a bloody mouth, "I'm sorry."
"It's too late for apologies, mate," Hook chuckled wicked, "But now comes the real retribution."
Hook reached for his scabbard and unsheathed his sword.
"First, to take from you what you took from me," Hook grinned.
In one swing of his sword, Hook severed Rumplestiltskin's left hand, prompting another cry of pain from the Dark One.
"And second," Hook continued, "To take from you, what you took from Milah. You do know Regina, correct? Lovely woman. She enchanted my Hook to allow me to take a heart. She intended it for Cora, but I made a different call."
Hook plunged his hook into Rumplestiltskin's chest, and then swiftly pulled it back out, with a glowing bright red heart pierced on the tip of his hook.
"Beg," Hook demanded.
"What?" Rumple sobbed, prompting Hook to kick him in the side.
"Beg me for death!" Hook ordered.
"Please," Rumple sobbed, "Just end it!"
Hook grinned.
"With pleasure."
Hook took the heart in his right hand and squeezed it. Rumple's eyes rolled into the back of his head and his heart slowly turned to dust. Hook let out a delightful chuckle as Rumplestiltskin died at his feet.
"Papa?" a boy's voice came from behind him.
Hook turned around to see Baelfire standing there behind him, looking down at his father's corpse.
"Bae," Hook said, "You have to understand, I-"
Bae rushed up and hugged Hook tightly.
"Papa, you killed the crocodile," Bae said, "Thank you. I love you."
Hook hugged him back.
"I love you too, Bae," Hook said, "And now, we can be the family that Milah wanted us to be. We can be father and son."
"I'd like that, papa," Bae said smiling.
Hook awoke with a gasp. It had only been a dream. Damn. The last thing he remembered, Cora had created her force field around this corner of the land, shielding it from Regina's curse.
"It worked," Cora smiled, looking around.
"What worked?" Hook yawned, "It's only been one night."
"Oh no, Hook, it's been twenty-eight years," Cora replied.
"Twenty-eight years?! In one night?!" Hook asked, astonished by this.
"Yes," Cora nodded, "I told you that you wouldn't even notice. We've been here in this land, frozen, for twenty eight years, though it only felt like a night to us, and we haven't aged a day. But, now, the saviour has arrived to break the curse and time has begun again."
"Outstanding," Hook said, looking himself over, "I'm not one to be easily impressed, Cora, but this is remarkable."
"Yes," Cora nodded, "But, now, there's work to be done. I have other matters to attend to. I want you to scout the corner of this land, identify sources of fresh water. We'll need it to sustain us until we can open a portal to the new land."
Cora disappeared in a plume of purple and black smoke. Hook proceeded along the beach for a bit before entering the forest. The forest had also just awoken. Birds and squirrels were frolicking about, looking for food.
"Cute," Hook mused, half-jokingly, to himself.
Just then, a swirl of black and purple smoke appeared around Hook.
"What the Hell is this?"
Hook felt like someone had just jumped onto his chest, and he collapsed, back first, onto the ground. The smoked cleared, and Hook could see that someone had indeed landed on top of him. It was a man with long black hair and pale skin.
"Ugh," the stranger groaned, "So much for a gentle landing."
The stranger then noticed the other man underneath him and quickly rolled off and backed away. Hook sat up, and was able to get a better look at the stranger. He was tall in stature and had long black hair slicked back. His eyes were a piercing shade of blue that felt as though they were looking into your soul. The man had a very royal look about him, mostly stemming from his clothing which consisted of green, gold, and black leather.
"Hello, mate," Hook spoke up, "Bit of an accident, eh?"
The stranger looked like a deer in headlights. Clearly, he had not been expecting anyone else to be here. In a blink of an eye, he vanished without a trace. There was no sound, no flash of lights, no plume of smoke, nothing to indicate the teleportation. Hook merely grunted in aggravation.
"Fucking sorcerers."
A/N: I know, the last thing I needed to do was to start another fanfic not to finish, but I was inspired and I write as inspiration comes. Anyway, I just want to clarify: yes, I'm fully aware that Rumple and Bae were out of character in Hook's dream. He dreamt them both acting as he wanted them to act, not how they actually were.