Ch.10: Death itself was undone

Thanos was putting quite the fight. Loki and Sigyn managed to block the Space and Mind Stones from him, but he still held control of the other stones, rendering him capable of wielding more power than they could go against. Even if he couldn't use all the stones at once. Half of the team focused on keeping Thanos from using the gauntlet, while the others attacked him relentlessly. Loki knew the only way to send Thanos to Helheim was to mark him somehow. It had been Sigyn's idea to use the necroswords, as they carried Loki's binding.

Steve lead one attack after the other, with little effect on the titan so far. They were getting tired, and angry. Their attacks grew disorderly and desperate. It was getting hard for Sigyn to follow them, as she had to weaken any possibly fatal blow that could hit Thanos before they had the chance to send him to Helheim.

This is taking too long.

I have an idea, but I will have to let go of the stone.

Loki shared a look with Sigyn, and nodded curtly, handing her a long black sword. He summoned many illusions, not only of him, but of all the avengers. The team was slightly confused, but Steve caught up on it and signaled them to attack. Sigyn let go of her hold on the Mind Stone, and Loki made his illusions attack Thanos, the team backing it up with everything they had. This disoriented the titan, and in that fraction of a second window, Sigyn jumped up and landed on his shoulder. Shrouded in her magic, Thanos was too slow to notice her until he saw a necrosword protruding from his neck.

A shock of pure excruciating pain hit all of his body like lightning. It took him a second to realize he was paralyzed from the neck down. His legs gave in, his arms weren't responding, and he fell to his knees. Sigyn steaded him and herself with magic, holding the sword in his spinal cord.

Thanos didn't hear Nebula screaming, nor did he feel her swords cleave his arm clean.

The gauntlet clanked loudly when it hit the floor, and Loki teleported to grab it. Sigyn immediately summoned a shield around them, knocking everyone away violently.

"No!" Someone shouted, but it was muffled by her shield bubble.

Loki took the gauntlet and pulled Thanos' arm off it. The gauntlet shrunk to fit Loki's hand, but that was all. It kept humming and cracking, threatening with disintegrating. Loki gulped hard, feeling the Soul Stone wanting to escape his grasp, no matter how hard he willed his magic on keeping it there.

"You know why it resists you." Thanos' laugh was deep and raspy. "You know the price you have to pay for it." He croaked with a sardonic smile, looking up to Sigyn.

Loki clenched his jaw, and decided it was not the time, yet, and summoned another necroblade to give Sigyn.

"That will be none of your business. Now…" Loki walked close to the titan. "You killed me. Not very successfully, but still."

"Are you going to torture me, little one?" Thanos mocked.

"Oh, no!" Loki smiled widely. "An old friend of yours will be doing that."

Loki took a deep breath and concentrated on the dark ring on his wrist. Tendrils of smoke escaped from it, reminding Loki of the wisps of Helheim. When the smoke took shape, it was no guardian, but Hela herself who answered the call.

Brunnhilde slammed her sword against Sigyn's shield, but the energy knocked her back. Thor looked confused, and hurt.

"Loki? What-" Thor's voice was muffled, but it still caught Hela's attention.

"Oh, baby brother!" Hela mused. "I'm just an illusion, I'm not really here. Our great father saw to that. Don't worry, I'll be gone soon." She didn't spare more than a glance in Brunn's direction before turning her attention to Thanos.

"Hela…" Thanos coughed, realization beginning to dawn on him.

"Yes," Hela said with a satisfied glint in her eyes. "I told you I would get my revenge one day. Now you're coming to Helheim with me, little one." She dragged the tone mockingly, flicking the tip of the necrosword on his neck. "This was a great idea, using the blades to mark him. I'm impressed."

"It wasn't my idea." Loki pointed out.

"Of course." Hela looked at Sigyn with an empty smile. "Think you can produce a portal?" She asked, turning to Loki.

With the help of the Space Stone and his binding spell, Loki produced a portal as dark as the obsidian rock that guarded Helheim's gate.

Back staring at Thanos, Hela barked, "Kill him."

Sigyn thrusted and twisted the dagger on Thanos' neck upward, moving it against the sword, and severed his spinal cord. She jumped off his neck and rolled away as his body convulsed wildly and his last scream got forever caught in his throat.

Hela crouched on the floor by Thanos' body. Invisible to everyone but her, a dark purple glow seeped up from the body, and Hela put her hand less than an inch from it. The dark green of her magic enveloped Thanos' soul, trying to bind it. Sigyn could see the effort it took. Thanos was resisting the binding with all he had, but the necroswords had already poisoned him. It wasn't long until his whole being was swallowed by the dark. When his soul finally took the form of his former self, he was already bound to Helheim.

"We're going to have so much fun." Hela said with a scowl.

A movement of her hand commanded Thanos through the portal as if he were a mere puppet under her spell.

Hela turned to Loki and extended her hand. Loki flinched with the cold shock he felt on his wrist, but as a weight seemed to be lifted from his shoulders, he knew he was no longer bound to Helheim.

"I'll see that you don't return. It will be more fun for everyone if next time you end up in Valhalla." Hela said with a hint of amusement in her monotonous deep tone.

With a small nod in Thor's direction, she walked through the portal and Loki made it disappear behind her.

The gauntlet shook, still resisting Loki and his magic. He had been blocking Sigyn from helping with it, as he already knew what had to happen. Outside their shield bubble, everyone was screaming and hitting the invisible barrier. Under Sigyn's stare, Loki slid the gauntlet on.

You know the price you have to pay for it

Sigyn's hands were shaking, and her shielding spell started to wane. Loki took a deep breath, and closed his eyes tight, holding roughly to her wrist and pulling her to him.

.-

Cold.

Why is it so cold?

And dark.

Sigyn tried to breathe, but little air would reach her lungs. She blinked, but the light was scarce and her sight was blurry. Her head went spinning, trying to grasp every bit of magic she had left. It wasn't much. Her chest felt empty.

Loki? Loki!

Her voice made no sound in the void. And the void offered no response. Did he? He surely didn't - Sigyn gulped hard, or tried, as her mouth had gone dry. A small sob escaped from her.

Am I dead?

No, you're not.

Slowly, her surroundings became clearer, and air was available to her again. The sound of her own heartbeat was like being brought back to life. Slowly, her eyes managed to focus. The green glow of the sphere she was in illuminated Loki's face. She smiled weakly.

"The soul stone disappearing depleted us a little." Loki explained. "I'm sorry about that…"

"What happened? Where are we?" She croaked, holding on to him.

Sigyn looked around, her eyes getting used to the little light around them. She noticed they were floating on space, debris all around them. There was something familiar about this exact spot of the universe, something close, almost friendly. And heavy, so immensely heavy.

"Asgard?" She said. Loki nodded.

"We don't need the soul stone." He said looking at the empty socket on the gauntlet. "These other stones are enough."

"Enough for what?" She asked tentatively.

Loki flexed his gloved fingers. "We could - do whatever… get our lives back, get back what we lost. Rule."

"Rule? What is there for us to rule?" Sigyn pulled herself in front of him. "Loki, that's just Odin talking, not you."

Loki clenched his jaw and shook his head slightly. "You should be queen of the whole universe." He breathed out, looking down. "Now I could make it happen. I could give you everything you deserve."

"I never wanted to be a queen." She said softly, linking his free hands in her fingers. "And some things I don't want back."

"Our life…" He squeezed her hand, and swallowed hard.

He looked around. The ruins of the place they once called home floated and swirled around them. They had been happy here, once. It would be so easy to reclaim what they lost… be happy again. Without all the mistakes and the lies and the secrets. He could make it perfect.

"That was another life, Loki." Sigyn interrupted his thoughts. "One that took me too long to accept it's gone. It will hurt me for as long as I live, but I can't go back to it."

Sigyn cupped his face and Loki leaned his forehead on hers.

"We have the chance to build a new life. One where you're not constantly trying to prove yourself." Loki groaned softly and Sigyn smiled. "You have nothing to prove to anyone anymore, not even to me. We could actually be free. No more chasing, no more running, no more obligations… Just you and me."

"As we're meant to be." He added.

Loki kissed her, arm around her waist. A long deep kiss, it made the universe disappear. The soft warmth of her magic enveloped him, soothed him. And he understood: it was time to let go. Everything he needed was inside this bubble.

Reluctantly pulling away, he took the gauntlet off and gave it to her. Now that its magic wasn't working against her, it hummed and vibrated, filling her with new power. Sigyn closed her eyes and focused on the Space Stone, willing a portal to appear.

"Where are we going?" Loki asked.

"Titan." Sigyn said, Loki didn't need explaining. "There's still work to be done."

"We are going to help that bunch of-"

"Yes, we are."

He had to roll his eyes at her, but still pushed their bubble through the portal. The bubble disappeared when they landed on the planet. Sigyn flexed the gauntlet and pulled the Space Stone off. Once freed, it took the shape of the Tesseract.

She gave it to Loki.

"This is our reward." She said with a smirk. Loki made it disappear into one of his pocket dimensions.

Sigyn took a deep breath and focused on the Time Stone. Visions swirled around them, and her eyes glowed gold as she walked through the barren terrain. Loki followed her close.

"Here." She said in a deep voice.

Sigyn extended her hand. Green circlets surrounded the gauntlet, and she commanded them to move with her other hand. Images flashed backwards. Several sunsets and sunrises where nothing changed. Then, lights, lightning, dust… dust flowing, dust gathering around, dust coalescing. The gauntlet hummed harder now, and Sigyn was having trouble keeping the spell. Loki stood behind her, his hands hovering inches away from hers, mimicking her moves, letting her borrow his magic.

The dust cloud swirled upwards, forming a blob that slowly took shape. Sigyn mixed her healing magic with the Stone's magic, and at last the shadow figure became a human. A very tired and confused human who had to learn how to breathe again. Sigyn stopped the magic flow and let the gauntlet rest.

The human collapsed on the floor and gasped loudly before looking at Loki and Sigyn. "What-?"

"Welcome back, Dr. Strange." Sigyn smiled.