Demons On My Tail
Loki woke at first slowly with the smell of his own blood and dirt on his face assaulting his nose, and then all at once by the scream of pain radiating from his wrists. When Loki opened his eyes, he found that he was bathed in a dim light from above which came from the open space between the rocks. It was dark around him…
Wait.
This wasn't right.
No, he wasn't back here. That was impossible! He was in Asgard, worlds away from this.
Panic reached inside his chest, grabbed his heart and squeezed. This couldn't be!
No, no, no, of course this wasn't real. A dream then. But only Loki didn't dream.
He had nightmares.
"Loki…"
The voice came like a whisper in the dark. Loki whipped his head about, trying to see who had spoken his name.
Then he came, like had come before; from the darkness and without mercy. Fear, unbidden and unwelcome clawed Loki's mind. Loki feared nothing, but he feared him. Oh, he feared him with every fiber of his being. He who made him. He who could unmake him.
"No," Loki breathed through cracked lips. "You are not real." He swallowed painfully, "This is not real!"
"No, this is not real." Thanos admitted. "But I can make it feel real." Suddenly he was in front of Loki with the tips on his fingers on his face.
Loki screamed and continued to scream even after Thanos turned from him. He screamed until he could no longer draw breath, until his throat was raw.
"You failed me, Loki. I always knew you were weak. And pathetic. Just look at you." Thanos said from the edge of the shadows, his bright cruel eyes watching as Loki slumped forward, his chains the only thing keeping him upright.
Silent sobs wracked his body. "So kill me," Loki cried without looking up.
"You don't deserve death, Loki. She is a cruel mistress and Hel will not take you so willingly."
Loki closed his eyes tight, pressed his head against his chest and wept. "What more can you take from me?" he sobbed brokenly.
Thanos was close to him again. Loki could feel his breath on his face as he said, "Oh Loki, you have so much more to offer me yet. You see," Thanos paused and lifted Loki's face, but Loki didn't look at him. He kept his eyes tightly shut as if that would keep the nightmare at bay. "I have come to burn your kingdom down, and no rivers, lakes, nor the tears of heaven will put that fire out."
Loki tried to pull his face away, but Thanos' grip only tightened. "You are the spark that sets those fires burning, Loki. I'll make use of you yet." He shoved Loki's face away.
"I'm coming for you…"
Loki awakened already sitting upright in the middle of his darkened cell.
But he didn't open his eyes, not until the tears dried.
Thanos was coming to destroy Asgard. And he could now with the Tesseract here.
There was nothing he could do to stop it either. Everything, everything would be destroyed and he would truly be left with nothing.
But why should he care? No one wanted him. If Asgard were destroyed, so what? This was no longer his home. The people he would have loved and protected now cursed his name and banished him to this fate.
If they suffered at the hands of Thanos it would be a sort of justice. Reaping what they had sowed.
Loki opened his eyes and looked up slowly, bitterness and malice burning in his gaze.
Demons were on his tail and the devil was coming for him…
And he didn't care.