"Jane" Loki cried, catching her in his arms. She lay limp for a moment, seeming incredibly weak.
He sighed with relief when she opened her eyes, "I'm okay. I just felt a little dizzy that's all."
Loki looked at her, and helped her to stand. They walked in the direction of the healers, tuning out the sound of Sevilia's sobs. "I never meant for it to be this way." She kept saying, "I'm so sorry."
Jane slumped to the side, and Loki held her upright, until she sighed softly, collapsing into his arms, "Loki." She breathed. Her sleeve slipped a little, revealing black veins crawling up her arm.
He pulled at her sleeve, baring her shoulder, watching in horror as the black poison spread through her body. Looking at the wound, he saw her skin graying around the source of the poison. He glared at Sevilia, "If she dies, I will kill you myself. Slowly...in every way you have ever feared."
Sevilia whimpered, cringing against the guards. She seemed to shrink in on herself, trying to make herself smaller. He picked up Jane, carrying her to the healers, laying her on the table."What's happened?" The healer asked, turning on the soul forge.
"I think she's been poisoned." Loki replied, giving a dark and terrible look to Sevilia again, who withered under his gaze, whimpering and crying softly. The healers milled about, focusing on Jane, tracing her energy pathways, trying to figure out what poison was used.
"I've never seen a poison like this." The healer murmured, her hands hovering over Jane, trying desperately to figure out the poison's behavior.
"What is it?" Loki asked looking up from Jane to the healer.
The healer moved her hands quickly, trying to block the path of the poison and push it back to the wound, "I don't know. I've never encountered a poison like this before. It keeps dodging everything I throw at it, keeps sliding past me. It is very alien, and very powerful. Whatever it is, it is definitely not something from the nine realms." She looked at Loki, "I just don't know. I'll do what I can though, my king."
Loki helplessly watched his wife lying eerily still, and then up at the energy form of Jane above lay inert, as the black poison spread to her heart like a snake swimming in her veins, clogging them. Her heart shuddered as the poison filled it, and Jane's face changed to a pained expression as she fought the poison, fighting a losing battle for her life. Her skin turned white and then grey as her face became contorted with agony.
The healer's movements became more and more frantic, more desperate, but the poison just patiently worked its way through Jane. Her skin turned darker grey, her blood thickening, slowing her heart. Her grip on his hand loosened as the black veins stood out against her skin. Her face slackened as her heart began to give out; she was losing the strength to fight.
"No Jane. You can't leave. You can't leave me." Loki murmured.
Jane turned her head and opened her eyes, "I don't want to leave you." She rasped looking up at her husband with sorrow in her eyes.
Tears welled up in his own, as he thought about Jane staying by his side when he had been wounded. He remembered her tears. He remembered how she wept over his body on the healer's table. Not once did Jane let go of his hand. She stayed by his side. And now he was in her position. He was just as helpless as she was. And now he was forced to watch her die.
Now it was his turn to watch, to cry, to hold her hand until she passed into the afterlife. He cursed Thanos, vowing that he would someday kill him. His free hand was clenched, struggling not to reach for his dagger and throw it into Sevilia's heart; to hear it the satisfying thump as it buried itself up to its hilt in her chest. He wanted to scream, to shout, to break something, anything, to throw something against the wall just to hear something break the dreadful silence amid Jane's strained and painful breaths.
"Hold on Jane." He whispered, gripping her hand, kissing her cold forehead, "I love you."
"I...love you...too." She said softly, her eyes closed.
Loki looked up at the healers helplessly, but they simply returned the look. "Please." He said, "There must be something you can do."
The healers all shook their heads, tearing up, at a loss for words. They had hoped this day would never come again. They had almost lost their king, and now their young queen was going to die in his place. Miracles always came with a high price.
"My king." Sevilia murmured softly, trying to step forward. The guards gripped her arms firmly, preventing her from moving any further away from them.
"GET OUT!" Loki screamed, standing up so suddenly, the chair clattered to the floor. He turned on her sharply, "GET OUT!". Sevilia squeaked and stepped back, "Take her to the dungeons!" The guards hesitated, noting poor little Sevilia shaking and sobbing again. "NOW!" He roared, "GET HER OUT OF MY SIGHT!"
The guards steered Sevilia out, closing the doors behind them. Loki grabbed his chair from the ground after they left, sitting heavily in it with a groan. He felt Jane's fingers gently rub the back of his hand, but she didn't open her eyes, or otherwise move.
"Jane." Loki said softly, "Jane." He petted her forehead, just the way she had when he was recovering. Her eyelids fluttered. The number of healers working on Jane slowly dwindled, until it was just the one healer working on her. She bit her lip, striving to press back the poison, to reverse what it had done.
"Will a transfer of energy help her?" Loki asked hopefully.
The healer shook her head, "It would only prolong her suffering." She worked late into the night, tirelessly, but futilely, and both she and Loki knew it. Still she persisted, but the poison spread as a black sickness within her, killing her slowly and decisively. Loki stayed by his wife's side the entire time, rejecting food and drink and company. All he wanted was to be with Jane when it was her time to go. To be there for her until the end.
"My King, take a drink and food. It will do you no good to waste away." A young healer said, setting a pitcher of water and a plate with bread and meat and cheese on it beside him.
"I'm not hungry." Loki said, not looking at the healer or the food. "I will eat later. I have to look after our children... after she... after she goes." Still looking at Jane.
"I will let you be with her." The healer said and bowed her head, "My King."
"Is there truly nothing you can do for her?" Loki said, his eyes pleading for hope, for a single ray of chance that Jane would be okay.
The healer put her hands down, falling into a chair. "I've done all I can." She murmured, "I'm so sorry." Then she got up and walked away solemnly, sorrowfully.
The air in the room grew cold, and still Jane clung to life so firmly; it made him proud and pained.
He was proud because she was so strong, so good. She was so steady, the pillar he leaned on when he didn't think he could stand. She was always there. She knew what he had done, she knew his past, and still she loved him with all her heart. She married him, and had his children. She was everything to him.
Loki was pained too, because it prolonged her suffering. She was struggling, fighting for each breath. She was shuddering, growing colder and weaker by the minute. He wished he had more time with her, but he was also grateful for the time he had with his beautiful wife. He was grateful for everything she had brought into his life. Jane had helped him find redemption. The people of Asgard would never have accepted him back if it weren't for Jane, bringing out his true colours. She had saved him.
Loki stroked Jane's hair tenderly, kissing her brow. There was a kind of quietness was unbearable in that large room, even as the soul forge continued humming, and Jane struggled for breath.
A soft noise disturbed the silence...