Chapter 20: Bloodbath:

"This is a simple choice I am giving you have here, Eitri: either forge me the Infinity Gauntlet or I will eradicate your kingdom."

"Over our dead bodies, Thanos!"

"I will give you one more chance to be reasonable, Eitri. Forge me the Gauntlet and I will forget this affront!" Thanos proposed one more time, starting to lose his temper. 'If this imbecile doesn't obey me, I will be obliged to ask for Her help!'

Looking down at the Mad Titan, a determined twinkle crossed the eyes of the Dwarves' king. 'I would rather have my people die holding their heads high than letting them bear the responsibility of the doom of the whole Universe on their shoulders!'

"I stand firm on my position, Titan." Eitri drew his sword. "Dwarves! All with me!"

"Fine, Eitri. You will be the only one to blame for your Realm's downfall." Thanos smirked, advancing in a calm and measured stance toward Eitri. The latter, followed by his army, charged, fiercely leading his people toward an inexorable death as they roared one last battle cry.

Mikan woke up in a cold sweat, her heart furiously pounding against her chest. She could hardly breath. A trembling hand covering her mouth, she closed her eyes as she tried desperately to recall the reason of her sudden awakening.

The young woman jolted in surprise when Loki suddenly burst in her room, a worried expression on his face, wearing nothing but loose pants and a shirt.

"Are you alright?"

Noticing that Mikan was safely sitting on the edge of her bed, all covered in sweat, her dilated hazel eyes looking at him with a lost expression, Loki felt the need to explain himself for he realized he might have overreacted.

"I… You screamed."

"I screamed?" Mikan repeated dumbly. Her sweaty palms tightened their grasp on the sheets of her bed.

"Yes," nodded Loki, now frowning. "You screamed like there was no tomorrow."

"Ah." Mikan whispered weakly.

If possible, she became even paler. Loki couldn't help but wonder what in the Nines could have possibly happened to reduce Mikan to such a panicked state. Aware that he couldn't simply leave her like this, Loki materialized a glass of water that he gently handed to her. Her hands were shaking so much that half of its content was spilled on the floor. Materializing a charmed mop, he made sure the mess would be cleaned up.

"Thanks."

Loki shrugged it off and leaned against the frame of her door, patiently crossing his arms against his chest. When Mikan finally realized he had no intention of leaving before she explained herself to him, she sighed resignedly and invited him to take a seat next to her, too shaken to be self-conscious of her poor state.

As he sat next to her, Loki noticed the flower he had gifted her two days ago was laying on Mikan's nightstand. His eyes fixed it for an instant; Mikan had obviously been taking good care of it.

"I think it's bad. Really bad. This has happened to me before, Loki. Twice." Mikan paused as she felt the need to collect herself. Taking another sip of water, she continued, "It somehow works like some sort of premonition, I think. It happened to me the day I had to kill Natsume and the one Stephen confronted Dormammu."

Loki rose up to his feet at Mikan's explanation.

"I see. I will check if anything happened that could explain this."

"Wait! I'm coming with you!"

"Not in this state." Loki disapproved firmly.

"I am perfectly fine!"

Loki sneered at her comment which earned him a dark look. He rolled his eyes at her antics.

"You definitely are a terrible liar, Little One. You should rest, I won't take long."

"I am coming with you," Mikan reaffirmed strongly, this time without shaking, "I will neither be able to sleep nor to rest as long as I will be in left in the dark. I know that something terrible has happened, Loki. I feel it in my guts and it's killing me."

"Fine," Loki conceded, exasperated by Mikan's stubbornness. "I'll give you ten minutes to clean yourself up. Meet me in the library."

"Thanks, Loki." Mikan replied, grateful yet mildly offended by his comment at the same time. Even though she knew he was right.

As agreed, Mikan found Loki diligently waiting for her in front of the library. It was with apprehension that she observed him examine her appreciatively. However, her heart was warmed by the slight wave of reassurance that flowed through his body as he noticed she had regained some colors.

"How do you intend us to check things out, Loki?" Mikan asked him, curious.

"There is a slight change in my plans; I decided it would be safer if we will just hover over the branches of Yggdrasil, so we can see if anything wrong has happened in the Nine Realms. It'll be only through an astral projection. Don't worry, I'll guide you through it." Loki reassured her. "And, if this turns out to be fruitless, we would have to check out on Midgard to see if it ain't something more personal to you."

"Fine." Mikan nodded, admittedly impressed by Loki's capacity to not only project his astral form so far but also help her to it. The Ancient One was the only other person of her acquaintance who would have been able to accomplish such a thing.

"We should sit down. Mikan, during the whole process, you must not let go of my hand. At any cost. Alright?"

Paling slightly, Mikan nodded silently. She was well aware of the dire consequence of such an act: her soul would forever be lost in limbo. So, following his advice, the young woman sat down on the floor, mirroring his position. Loki reached out for her hand that she posed on his inner arm and, as soon as their bodies made contact, Mikan felt the familiar dizzying sensation of her astral form being separated of her physical form.

Loki's grip on Mikan's hand tightened as their projections engaged their travel inside the Yggdrasil's branches. Mikan had never seen anything like this. True, the Ancient One had shown her some glimpses of the Multiverses, however none of them equaled her current experience with Loki. It was simply breathtaking. It looked nothing like what she could have ever expected and yet she would have been unable to describe it either. But everything was so bright! Mikan could actually feel the power and energy of the Yggdrasil's branches surrounding her, invigorating and caressing her soul.

By focusing a tad more, Mikan realized they were surrounded by soft whispers and echoes of discussions she couldn't decipher, soothing her ears like the sound of a murmuring brook.

Before she had even heard them, Mikan's blood ran cold. As Loki was about to ask her what was wrong, wrenching cries pierced through the peaceful, lulling rustle. Mikan sensed Loki fidget against her. He had recognized Thanos' spiritual energy. Noticing Loki's paleness, Mikan bit her lip, fighting down the panic her heart had already started to succumb to.

"Is it…?"

"Yes. Don't let go of my hand." Loki reminded her.

"I won't."

Mikan could have sensed Loki's apprehension from miles away. This was understandable, it was certain that Loki's experience with the Mad Titan had been anything but pleasant.

"I retraced the cries to Nidavellir, home of the Dwarves."

"OK."

Loki nodded to Mikan and, progressively, the dazzling light was replaced by a much darker décor only illuminated by fires that had erupted from there to here, all throughout Nidavellir. The Realm was hosting what could only be described as a complete and monstrous genocide. Mikan covered her mouth with her free hand in horror, thankful that her astral form wasn't capable of throwing up. The scenery was horrifying, all these giant corpses, blood stains, and that horrible smell of burnt flesh. Neither of them was capable of looking away from the terrifying display of Thanos' power and cruelty.

In the center of it all, stood Thanos. He wasn't even half the size of his opponents, yet the purple Titan was single handedly dominating the whole battle, or rather the atrocious massacre. And, the worse part: he wasn't even accompanied by his army of Chitauri.

A terrible guilt filled Mikan's heart. After all, it was because of their intervention on Knowhere that Thanos was taking his anger out on the Dwarves. How naïve had she been to believe that retrieving the Orb would make all the problems go away!

Oh, Mikan was so dying to intervene, or at least try to do something to help them out, anything!

The young woman was surprised when Loki squeezed lightly her hand and started stroking it with his thumb.

"Don't be stupid, Mikan. You cannot blame yourself for his madness," he whispered softly, "Thanos doesn't stand failure." Loki added through pursed lips as he grew deathly pale in remembrance of the years' worth of tortures inflicted upon him. 'He will make you long for something sweet as pain.'

It was at times like these that Mikan cursed her gift, which she had no control over, to sense others' feeling. The reality of what they were witnessing hit her so hard. She was overwhelmed by the horror, the fear, the pain, the despair, the sadness and the defeated feelings surrounding her; the distress the Dwarves were going through.

"I know, Loki…" Mikan sighed helplessly. "But my heart bleeds for them."

Surprisingly, one disturbing emotion stood out of them all: it was guilty pleasure.

"Oh, dear God! He is enjoying this!" Mikan breathed out in aberration. "We've watched enough of this horror! Loki, please bring us back!" she begged.

Loki finally detached his gaze from Thanos' form to happily oblige Mikan's wish, materializing them back to their physical form as the horrendous scenery faded away to the more welcoming walls of Allice's mansion.

"How was your day at the bloc?" Stephen casually asked Christine while she was hanging her coat on the hook.

"Fine, really. Nick says hi by the way." Christine replied, attracted by the pleasant smell of the food emanating from her kitchen. "You ordered Chinese?"

"Obviously."

Christine rolled her eyes at the slight touch of arrogance in her boyfriend's tone, still with an indulgent smile on her face. She quickly finished removing her shoes and joined Stephen in the kitchen where she found him setting the table. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she tiptoed to give him a light peck on the cheek. "I missed you."

"I missed you too."

"Mikan and Mordo aren't coming tonight?" Christine wondered, surprised by their friends' absence and rightfully so. Indeed, the four of them had developed the habit of meeting every third Saturday of the month in her place, where they would just hang out, enjoy a good meal and share one or two drink. Then, late in the night, Mikan and Mordo would retire to allow Stephen and Christine the privacy to enjoy some pleasant intimacy.

Stephen went still in their embrace. Worried, Christine stepped back to be able to observe her lover.

"Is everything alright, Stephen?"

"Christine, there has been some complication amongst the ranks of Kamar-Taj lately." Stephen sighed. "You might as well want to take a seat."

Following Stephen's advice, Christine sat on her chair and he proceeded to catch her up on all the events from the past month.

"That's so messed up! What does she do to always get herself in so much trouble!?"

"Well, it looks like she dragged me into this mess too." Stephen replied, rolling up his sleeve so he could show her the bracelet.

"What's that? Oh, my goodness! Stephen, is it melted in your skin?!"

"Yes. Mikan and I had to make a blood pact to ensure Loki's loyalty to her. We'll see tomorrow if he'll keep his words: after he brought me back here, we agreed on Mikan coming to Earth one day each month so we can check on her wellbeing." Stephen explained, an exasperated look on his face.

"What happens if one of you breaks the pact?" Christine asked faintly.

"He'll die."

Christine felt her blood drained from her face as she went as white as a sheet.

"It's a relatively radical solution."

"Loki is the god of Lies and Mischief, Christine. He also wears the well-earned names of the Liesmith and the SilverTongue. Believe me, this was the least we could do."

"Then, maybe you should have stayed there with Mikan, don't you think? I mean, the guy is sick."

"No. I am needed here and I would have been quite useless there. Furthermore, Mikan is a grown woman, she knows how to take care of herself. Even though it doesn't help that she is an idiot." Stephen sighed. "I swear this girl is looking for problems; not only did she go in his cell once but three times in a row! And now it's worse: you should have seen the tension between them!"

"Are you afraid that she might fall for him or something?" Christine frowned.

"I know her too well, I don't doubt her capacity to commit to such idiocy. Furthermore, Loki is an Aesir for crying out loud! They have quite an history of falling for Midgardian women, just take a look at Thor and Jane Foster!"

"Hmm. I still doubt that mass murderers are Mikan's type."

"If I were you, I wouldn't bet on that. You should have seen the way they were making eyes at each other!"

"I see. But if this Loki is as smart as you all claim him to be, I think that he'll prefer to avoid any complications between him and Mikan. So, wouldn't keeping their relationship platonic strike him as one of his first priorities?" wondered Christine.

Stephen rolled his eyes at the comment.

"No, she doesn't. Mikan is a sweetheart. e the opposite to you, very good at growing on people which surely ain't your cup of tea! Always rubbing them the wrong way… You know what, my little finger tells me your arrogance has something to do with it."

"I hope that too." Stephen nodded.

Caressing gently his arm, Christine closed her eyes and simply enjoyed their closeness.

"I don't know if she's ever told you, Stephen, but Mikan considers you and Mordo as her big brothers. You're her only family. Don't you ever forget that. She needs you. Please, take good care of her."

"I know, sweetheart," sighed Stephen, resting his head on hers, "I know and I will."

The mirror Mikan was facing reflected to her a sleepless and paler version of herself. Dark bags appeared around her puffy eyes. The cruelty of the images of the previous night were still too vivid in her mind. Her hands tightened their grip on the sink until her knuckles turned white.

Taking a deep breath, Mikan splashed cool water on her face and the back of her neck, in an attempt to freshen up. Then, she hastily brushed her teeth and took a cold shower.

Once her toilet was meticulously done, Mikan walked up to her closet to choose her clothes for the day. Passing in front of her dressing table, the young woman sighed at her reflection one more time. Self-conscious of her miserable figure, Mikan sat on the velvet covered stool and swiftly applied a light touch of make-up to cover her imperfections, bringing some colors back to her pretty face.

Now that she was more satisfied with her own image in the mirror, Mikan finally felt ready to face Loki in the library.

All her appetite lost, Mikan quit her chambers and went straight to the library where she was sure to find Loki already comfortably seated in their habitual spot. Pushing the doors open, she perceived Loki's strong back turned to her. For one instant she paused as she imagined how his well-developed muscles would move accordingly under his cold, robust skin at each of his movements. This same scared skin Loki had shown her few hours ago when she had asked him at what cost had he finally surrendered his will to Thanos. What did it take the Mad Titan to make him accept to inflict the same destruction and chaos upon Earth as they had witnessed Thanos do in Nidavellir? All that for a rock.

She still had in mind Loki's discomfort at the lone idea of facing the Mad Titan again, even though it had been only through their astral form. Mikan was left speechless by Thanos' capacity to spread fear all around him, even in Loki's heart.

Mikan was conscious the tortures inflicted upon Loki's body must have paled in comparison to the ones his mind had gone through. And, she couldn't even visualize the amount of atrocities it must have taken to break his pride and dompt his will. Indeed, Mikan knew how prideful of a man Loki was and, sadly, a very cunning one to that. So, she could only imagine that in the midst of the intolerable pain he was put through, the possibility of using Thanos' plan to his own advantage had dangerously seduced Loki's damaged mind, making him fall for the most tempting illusion. After all, what were the humans' worth anyway?

Mikan remembered clearly how tense Loki had been when she had raised her hand to retrace his scars, his faint gasp when her warm skin had made contact with his colder one while she, herself, had been holding her own breath. She recalled how rough these cruel marks had felt under her fingers in contrast to his softer, unharmed flesh. And, slowly, Mikan's hand had fallen to her sides as she had leant her face against his bare back, in a small show of comfort. She still remembered vividly how shivers had run through his spine when she had sighed against him. Mikan had then wrapped her arms around his waist and closed her eyes, soothed by the sound of his pounding heartbeat. They had remained in that awkward position until Loki had completely relaxed in her embrace. Then, his hands had covered hers briefly before simply vanishing into thin air.

"How are you doing?" Loki's velvet voice brought Mikan back to the present.

Since his back was still to her, Mikan realized how absurd it had been of her to shrug her shoulders at his question.

"I am fine, I guess. What about you?"

"Fine too."

"Great," mumbled Mikan. Her cheeks had reddened at the souvenir of her own boldness. She still couldn't believe how she had been able of committing such folly! 'You're still working on how to be friends and here I am touching him while he's half naked. He's so gonna have the wrong ideas!' Mikan sighed, 'But it just felt like the right thing to do back then…' she tried to convince herself even though a more reasonable voice was crying bullshit at her own foolishness.

"Today is time for your monthly visit to Earth." he stated as soon as she had appeared in his line of vision.

Mikan frowned in incomprehension, "What in the hell are you talking about, Loki?"

"I must have forgotten to tell you about this: Strange and I have agreed on you coming back to Earth at least once a month so he can check on you and be reassured I didn't try to do anything that could harm you."

"Nice. You could have consulted me on that by the way." Mikan reproached.

Loki ignored her sarcastic comment. "Do you need some time to prepare yourself?"

"No, this would do. But in the future, remember that I hate when things are decided for me." she sighed, annoyed.

"I'll keep it in mind." Loki rolled his eyes at her.

"Perfect. Now, bring me back to Kamar-Taj." replied Mikan, ignoring his exasperated tone as well.

Somehow, it was more convenient this way. 'After all, there's no way I could have been able to focus on the translations today. Especially not after what happened yesterday.'

Reaching for Loki's arm, Mikan placed her hand on it and the library vanished around them. They reappeared in Kamar-Taj's courtyard where Stephen, Mordo, the Ancient One and a shy Christine Palmer were waiting for them. A happy smile brightened Mikan's tired face.

"I will pick you up here tomorrow." Loki stated while smirking at Mordo's and Stephen's dirty glares.

"Good bye, Loki." Mikan smiled softly. He nodded his goodbye to her and disappeared as soon as he has materialized them in the courtyard. Turning around to face her friends again, she hugged them one by one.

"God, I missed you guys!"

"Damn, Mikan you look like a mess!" Mordo cried out, noticing the dark bags under her friend's eyes.

"What did this bastard do to you?" Stephen asked, barely containing the irritation in his voice.

"Oh, please can't you two just calm down for sec? Let her breath!" Christine reproached them.

Mikan smiled faintly at Christine.

"I had a sleepless night. It's hardly Loki's fault." Mikan sighed and scratched her head, finding no way to soften the bad news. "Last night, I had a bad premonition. We decided to check things out and we discovered that Thanos had chosen to take out his anger on the Dwarves. He decimated them all, no survivor was left. He destroyed an entire Realm!"

Unbeknownst to her own self, Mikan had started shivering uncontrollably and tears of powerlessness flowed down her cheeks.

"Oh, sweetheart!" Christine soothed in her ear as she took her back in her comforting embrace.

"Thank you, Christine. Please don't worry, I am fine. I promise. It's just the backlash."

The Ancient One and Hamir, who were already aware of the situation, exchanged a look while Mordo and Stephen were still trying to cope with the immensity of Mikan's revelation.

"Why hasn't Asgard intervened?" Stephen questioned.

"I asked the same question to Loki. He told me that since Ronan and Nebula were in Odin's captivity, he probably didn't want to risk challenging Thanos more."

"But an entire Realm was exterminated!" Mordo pointed out outraged. "If anyone could have arrested him, it's the Asgardians!"

"I know," sighed Mikan as she wiped her tears away. "Loki said we may have to be prepared to the possibility of Thanos requesting Death's help. In the meantime, there is nothing much we can do," she added, annoyed by their impuissance to face Thanos' threat over the Universe.

"Well, Loki is wrong. There's still something we can do and it's making sure Thanos doesn't gain possession of any of the Infinity Stones." the Ancient One reminded her. For a moment, Mikan was slightly disturbed by the look her Master gave her and the hint of guilt present in her tone. However, she decided to look past it.

"You're right." Mikan simply nodded.

"Please, Mikan, don't beat yourself over this. What happened was none of your fault. If Thanos is now capable of this scale of destruction do you even imagine what could have happened if the Orb had fallen under his hands?" Mordo pointed out.

"God forbids such a disaster from ever happening!"

The lone idea made shivers run through their spines.

"Now come here," invited her the Ancient One, "I am sure that a cherry blossoms flavored tea is going to cheer you up."

Mikan smiled faintly but she doubted strongly that tea could bring any remedy to their situation.

A.N: Thank you for reading this chapter! Constructive criticism is always welcome, please leave a review!