"Got me spinning like a ballerina," I hummed, doing a little spin and tripping on the couch. I laughed to myself, and continued singing. "Feeling gangsta every time I see ya, you're the king and baby, I'm the queen of disaster, disaster."
Loki shoved his head under the pillow.
It was Day 7. A week has passed. And nothing, seriously nothing, has happened.
Loki kept partying, of course. He got back to the room way past midnight last night, which was why he was still sleeping.
Well, trying to sleep.
"Got me spinning like a ballerina, you're the bad boy that I always dreamed of. You're the king and baby I'm the queen of disaster, disaster." It's a pity my phone ran out of battery two days ago. Now that I couldn't listen to music, I sang it.
And he hated it.
"Dude!" I called out, refusing the urge to jump on the bed like a little kid. "It is way past morning!" He ignored me. I got used to it. Like I got used to be locked up in this room.
I didn't go out often. Just to get food. I was a bit too scared to leave the room.
But I did go to the contest of champions alone, and almost got trampled by the crowd. I saw Doug. Hulk killed him. Sakaar was a bit of a depressing place.
I gave up on trying to talk to Banner after seeing the fight because I didn't want to end up like Doug. But, I didn't give up on trying to find the Valkyrie. I even learned her name. Scrapper 142. She was a difficult figure to locate.
I still had the Grandmaster promise me that he'll tell her to come meet me if she was ever in the building. I had no idea why the guy was so cooperative, but I got the feeling he and Loki had something going on, aside from the constant partying. Something inappropriate. I did not want to think about whatever that was.
But still. If it had me fed and alive, I wasn't going to protest.
Boredom was one of my issues with Sakaar. Because seriously, this place had zero neutral ground. Everything was either dangerous as hell, or boring as hell. At first, I had tried to get on by partying like Loki did, but it just wasn't my thing. Besides, watching drunk people do stupid things got boring by Day 2.
So I stayed in our room. I even managed to pick up some alien books, but they were all in alien languages, aside from the pictures. I was pretty sure one was a steamy romance novel about two aliens with tentacles for hands. Or maybe the tentacle wasn't a hand...
I shuddered.
Okay, no. "Wake up. I'm bored." I plopped down on the bed.
Loki also mostly stayed in the room before evening. I was pretty sure he had nothing to do too, although he acted like he had a lot on his plate.
We talked a lot. He taught me how to use a dagger before I almost cut off my own hand. He quit then, calling me a horrible student.
Then he taught me magic, and I now loved seeing his eyebrows rise, impressed. I was so good at magic.
Asgardian magic was wildly different from the Doc's teachings. Loki had much more raw power than Strange, probably because he wasn't human at all. So while the Doc focused on channeling his magic with spells and incantations, Loki worked on his innate magic itself. Improving it, manipulating it, and on and on.
And apparently, I also had much more power than an average human sorcerer. I even had a theory to explain it. I was sure since I'm from another dimension where magic doesn't exist, I was an empty vessel when I first arrived in this world. So when I focused, I drew an abundance of power from this world directly.
It was a nice theory. Too bad Loki thought I was wrong. He just thought I wasn't human. No matter how I told him I was, he refused to believe me. He was such an idiot for a clever guy.
So the point was, I was actually powerful now. I could fight, now. Loki taught me the combat magic the Doc had explicitly told me not to even think about, and I now knew the six fastest way to neutralize an enemy with magic. Or, as Loki would say, the six fastest way to kill an enemy.
He was such an extreme person. Which is why he judo-flipped me on the bed when I started bouncing on it.
"Agh-"
"Shut up," He hissed into my ear, chocking me without mercy. "I cannot bear your singing anymore."
I rolled my eyes. "I have a wonderful voice," I retorted, kicking his side with my heels. He let go of the grasp, and I got to my feet. On the bed. I jumped up and down, and when I looked down I literally thought he was going to stab me with the dagger in his hand.
"No weapons allowed!" I kicked his wrist and he let go of the knife and grabbed my ankle, dragging me down. He twisted my leg and I lied there, my head over the bed and my gaze upsides down.
"I give up," I grinned. "But you're awake now, so I win."
"You're such a child," He spat viciously, and pushed me on the ground. I wasn't sure if he was kidding or not, because I was obviously a child. He must still think I was 226 years old. What an idiot.
"Ow." I said, lying on the ground. He stepped over me in his white night-cloth and walked over to the bathroom.
I sighed. Was this the start of another boring day on Sakaar?
When I got back to the room from dinner, alone, someone was waiting in front of the door.
At first, I thought it was the Valkyrie. And my heart sped up and my eyes widened and-
She looked at me. It was Janan.
"Regi!" She said excitedly, and I tried to hide my disappointed look.
"Janan! How've you been?"
"Well, great! I just thought I'd check by to see what you were doing," She grinned. "You look much younger without make-up, dear."
"Um, yeah," I had seen myself in the mirror after the party, and had been shocked. The eyeliner draw out the darkness of my eyes and I seriously could have passed for 17, or older. Apparently, Loki was a great make-up artist.
She barged on. "And I totally missed you that day. Who was that guy? I thought we were becoming friends and that man just-"
"Oh, he's," I shrugged. "No one. He's just kinda weird, you know? Ignore him."
She leaned closer to me. "So he's not your owner, is he?"
"..Owner? What? No way," I cringed slightly, because aliens are so weird. Did she think I was a slave or something? Then, what Loki said popped into my brain. Something about Cre-creians? Cregarians?
Loki had talked as if she was an axe-wielding murderer, rather than a pretty young woman who loved to party. Which made me slightly apprehensive, even though there was no way she was carrying an axe in that tiny dress.
"Okay, then. Let's go inside!" Janan beamed cheerfully, and I paused. Better safe than sorry, right?
"Janan, can I ask you a personal question?"
"Hmm?"
"What's a..." I struggled to remember the word. "Cregarion? Wait, is it Cregarian? I'm sorry if I got it wrong..." I trailed off, because her demeanor had changed completely.
Her smile slid off her face and she bared her teeth, stepping closer to me and pushing my back against the wall. Our gaze met and...there was something wrong with her eyes.
Her eyes were flickering. Her pupil's colors changed from green to red to blue in a blink, and I gulped, because I was pretty sure it hadn't been doing that a moment ago. Her lips curled upwards, as if she was smiling, but her eyes were frozen cold.
"You knew what I was?" Her breath hit my neck and I blinked.
"Um, no? Well...yes?"
"Is the man inside?"
I felt conflicted. What was I supposed to say? What was she going to do?
"Yeah." I muttered, because a thought struck me. She was definitely not going to give me cuddles and kisses. Not with that expression. That expression just made her look...hungry.
Oh no. She was a cannibal. Then she sighed, like she was disappointed, and slid her hand around the back of my neck.
"Then I guess, we're going to have to do it here."
"Do wha-"
Janan squeezed, and I realized that she was not a cannibal. She was a axe-wielding murderer, just without an axe. Well, a simple murderer would do, but my brain was spiraling, panicking, drifting off to meaningless and useless thoughts. Getting choked was not a healthy choice for your brain, or your mouth. I couldn't scream. I couldn't think.
But there was something else happening too, something painful, other then her hands around my throat. There was something wrong with my heart, because I was pretty sure it shouldn't be wrenching and dropping. It should have been beating faster, not...drooping.
Janan took a deep breath, as if she was savoring the feeling of a neck between her hands. I struggled, jerking at her arms, but she was way stronger than me. She lifted my body up, and the pressure was stronger and I knew I was passing out.
Wait. Magic.
But it was too late. Magic needed focusing, but when I couldn't even breath and there was a leaden weight where my heart used to be and my vision was almost gone and I was dying-
Janan flew back and I dropped to my knees before I could see what had happened. I gulped at the air and my chest heaved and my heart immediately started beating like normal, and I whipped my head up.
Valkyrie. She had her arms crossed, looking down and glancing at both of us. "Which of you wanted to see me?"
I raised my hand slowly and she rolled her eyes and Janan slammed into her, grappling for control. But the Valkyrie wasn't a powerless middle-schooler-cough cough- and she jerked Janan's arms away, and took a swing. Janan stumbled back. Valkyrie snapped out a kick, one to the knee and one to her head that Janan dodged, stepped in and punched. But it was a sloppy one, even I could see that, and the Valkyrie took it and punched back.
Janan's head snapped backwards, and I winced. That must not be good for your neck. I rubbed at my own neck, which I knew was going to bruise, and shrugged. Who cares about Janan?
Janan growled, shaking her head. Then she again rushed Valkyrie and got a kick in the face and fell. Unconscious.
I stared.
"Well." Valkyrie looked at me. "What?"
"What?" I croaked.
"What did you want to see me for?"
I blinked. Okay. I rose to my feet, and staggered, feeling lightheaded and dizzy. Fuck. I was ready to pass out.
"Do you-do you want to come inside?" I asked hopefully, because we were not having this conversation in a hallway. No way. Hey, that rhymed! I was pretty sure my vision wasn't supposed to go all white. I slumped against the wall. "What's a Cregarian?"
"...They're a species. They eat your life force." Valkyrie looked down at Janan. "I'm guessing she is one."
"Huh. How can you tell?" I slurred.
"They take the shape that can best sway their prey." She turned to me, her eyes still impassive. "Look, I'm not here to introduce you to different kinds of aliens, so if you have nothing to add I'll be on my-"
"Stay, Valkyrie." My head rolled forward, before I corrected it. I peered into her eyes. "We need you."
And I promptly, dramatically, blacked out.
A/N: The song Regis sings is Queen of Disaster by Lana Del Rey. People with superior music taste, I bet you know it.
