Chapter 25 – Loki

Loki disappeared from in front of Tony only to reappear somewhere dark. He felt his own self flickering; his essence – some would say his soul and for a moment he was reminded painfully of Tony's stubborn expression, the anger hiding the worry. Then he was brought back to his reality, and the darkness seemed to cave in around him.

"This is not possible," Loki whispered, not moving a muscle, and then came the pain – the sharp, unstoppable pain of someone breaking into his mind.

Both him and his screams were swallowed by the darkness.

When his senses returned, Loki was in a familiar place. It was neither comfortable nor uncomfortable; it simply was. It was a place he knew well, better than anywhere else. He was in a golden castle; glistening floors, pillars from wall to ceiling, and art that defied the limits of what beauty could be.

"Good to see you again, godling." he turned to face the unwelcome voice in this place, coming to face his keeper.

"You are not welcome here." he dismissed, moving as if to turn away, but then the thing laughed.

"You do not know yet, do you?"

Loki lifted an eyebrow, though a feeling of discomfort was growing – something toying with the edge of his conscious mind.

"Look beyond your palace walls." The creatures words sent a shiver down his spine; they were not his palace walls, they had been once, but he'd desecrated their beauty with his jealousy and desire. He realized why he felt the growing discomfort; this was the home of his childhood, but a place he now only visited in his mind. With growing apprehension, he reluctantly did as he was told, looking beyond the pillared walls of the beautiful castle, and to what lay beyond.

He could see earth; as if he were looking through someone else's eyes. Destruction was being reaped on a small town, foreign from the American cities he'd grown so accustomed to with Tony. There were screams of terror, and families cowering together in fear. A hand appeared in the view, a familiar hand, pale, long-fingered, and with sudden horrified realization, he realized it was his own. Magic shot forth, throwing aside a man trying to stand in the way of his family, and his body, out of his control, stalked past.

"What are you doing to me?" Loki asked, barely able to hear his own voice over the horror that was crashing down around him.

"Exactly what we made you ready to do." The creature said, and his eyes that weren't really his looked into those of a frightened young child.

"Stop this." he said between gritted teeth, and the creature just gave its gravelly laugh.

"No. Feel the pain of taking the life of an innocent."

His saw his own hand reach forward, but this time Loki fought back. He could feel the motion, as if separated by a glass wall, but he beat at it, chinking a hole just big enough to reach through momentarily.

Suddenly he was no longer watching from inside his mind, but with his own eyes. He felt his essence flickering again, felt the pain as the glass began to reform even as he tried to keep it broken, but it was forcing him back, out of control and back into his mind.

"Run!" he commanded, and the boy was gone in a flash, disappearing into the chaos of the town.

Then he was back in his mind, losing control of his body. He collapsed to his knees on the floor of his childhood home, breathing heavily, his lungs feeling as if they weren't capable of taking a full breath of air in at a time.

"Impressive," the creature noted, and Loki turned a steely glare up at him, blue eyes flashing with hate.

"What have you done to me?" he demanded, and the creature came forward to crouch in front of him.

"You truly believe you could've escaped so easily had we not wanted it?" the creature mocked, and Loki stiffened. "We wanted you to escape. You were losing spirit. It wasn't as fun."

Without a moments notice, Loki lunged at the creature, forcing it back and connecting a solid blow with its mid-section before turning and darting off. "You managed to hide from me for a while, I'll admit that. But the moment I found you, the moment I had your blood again, you were ours to control."

"We'll see about that." Loki retorted defiantly, delving into the corridors of his mind where he was at the advantage. But he was reminded none to gently that in order to lure him back to earth, the creature had attacked Tony. It had his blood too, and if he wanted to be able to keep Tony save, he'd have to figure out how to get his keeper out of his mind.

And so the battle for control began.