A.N.: I feel I should warn you that this is the part of the story where things will not be very happy for a while. There will be angst. And struggle. BUT I also want to remind you that no matter how bleak things get, or which way the story turns, this WILL remain a Loki/Kagome story, and there WILL be a happy ending. Hang in there with me, guys! We're still going on a really crazy ride!
The events in this chapter are synced with events in the movie Thor: Dark World
Tears rolled unchecked down his face and he let them. Slumped against the wall in all his sad indignity, Loki simply had no care to right his appearance at all. His furniture lay scattered in broken bits and splinters and bloody shards of glass smeared through red footprints across the glossy white floor. He had no idea how much time had inched by since that guard had come to break his heart with the news of his mother's murder, but it had been a long time.
A long time by himself, as no one had come to see him.
Not his brother.
Not his father.
Not even Kagome.
He cursed that foul, ugly creature for leaving him in here when it had made its escape, freeing nearly every cell of prisoners on its way.
Every cell but his.
He could have been there. He could have protected her.
He could have-
The dungeon door opened and he tossed up a simple, lazy illusion so sloppy even his idiot brother saw through it straight away. He let it shatter carelessly, staring blankly at Thor who took in his red, puffy eyes and bedraggled hair, the evidence of his breakdown, shreds of his dignity.
"Did she suffer?" A small thing to ask, surely. A yes or no to grant a fraction of comfort.
"I did not come here to share our grief."
'I thought not.' Loki thought with a dispassionate snort.
"Instead I offer you the chance at a far richer sacrament."
The dozing embers of his curiosity stirred and he perked up a little. The chance of a distraction might be welcome.
"Go on."
"I know you seek vengeance as much as I do. You help me escape Asgard and I will grant it to you. Vengeance. And afterward this cell."
He flicked his eyes around and took in the carnage he wrought in his heartache, saw the faint, shimmery reflection of his disarray in the forcefield of his cage. A laughed a dark, humorless laugh and looked back at his brother.
"You must be truly desperate to come to me for help. What makes you think you can trust me?"
"I don't. But mother did."
Loki's heart constricted again, remembering the last time he'd been able to speak to her, and he hated himself for lashing out instead of treasuring her subterfuge to see him.
"And what's more, Kagome trusts you."
Confusion marred his brow and the hard, angry look in Thor's eyes promised something that made him feel wary.
"Kagome?"
"They took her. The elves took her. After everything, I trust you to help me get her back."
All the soft, silly things he'd been feeling curdled in an instant, and a consuming rage swept through him in their place. He burned, a blessed burn that pushed him back to his feet. He crossed his cell, ignoring the glass and splinters that pressed further into his soles with every step. He leaned as close as the shield around the cell would allow him, and Thor's eyes glowed with anticipation as his own flickered with hatred, the need for justice, the need for vengeance.
"Get me out of here."
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The room was dark and dank, though she could hardly feel the discomfort of the crumbling walls and dusty floors. Her arms were full, a deceptively sweet infant cradled to her chest. It whispered harshly in her mind, the fingers of its dark power sifting through her thoughts, her feelings, her will, burning through her consciousness while her soul recoiled painfully in horror. It taunted her mercilessly with her fears and she found comfort in the darkness that began to draw out of the deepest corners of her soul.
The infant is right, she could give in, it would be so easy. To stop fighting, to stop running from the darkness and let it consume her instead. She feared it now, but she could control it, harness it, let it carry her away in a soft, understanding embrace.
With it, maybe she could win. Maybe she could finally prove herself.
She could vanquish her foe, the one who caused this darkness in the first place.
She could steal away the things he longed for and revel in his despair.
She could-
No.
No.
That's not... that's not what she wants.
HE is not her foe. She's NEVER wanted to hurt him, the one who's saved her time and again. The hurt she feels is nothing to the happiness he brings, and it's this realization that brought back the searing agony of the feel of the infant inside her mind.
She had to get away, she couldn't let him poke around in that darkness anymore.
But she couldn't move. Her limbs were leaden and her body was stone and she CANT MOVE.
Again.
She's helpless. So helpless without him that she could be sick if she could just move.
The infant's whispers picked up again, reminding her of the reason for her capture, the jealousy that chokes her.
But it's okay.
It's okay.
That jealousy is there for a reason.
It's normal to be jealous.
It just means...
Just means...
"I love-"
She woke with a gasp, and though her arms and legs still feel heavy she's relieved to find she can move again. She did her best to drag herself up off the floor, needing to pause and breath and let the lights flashing in her skull fade. Her throat ached and her head pounded, dizziness threatened to push her right back down. But she had no idea where she was or who had her, and she refused to be any more vulnerable than she already was. She glanced around to take stock of her new surroundings, and her mental check list was alarmingly short.
"I'm in a gray metal room in a grey metal cage. How dazzlingly original."
"Are our accommodations not to your usual standard, princess?"
A large, purple... person walked in from an automatic sliding door, flanked by two women, one with green skin and one with blue, and it became very apparent very fast that she had been taken by people from a planet she'd never been to.
"Accommodations are fine. This isn't my first time as a damsel in distress." She crossed her arms over chest in petulant defiance, eyeing her captors but keeping a tight leash on her reiki, not reaching out to test their auras, if only to keep the extent of her abilities a secret for as long as possible. "So, what do you want?"
With his hands behind his back, the large purple one walked slowly up to her with measured steps and then studied her with an equally measured stare. She met his eyes fearlessly, lifting a brow, attempting to come across as bored to hide the simmering rage and growing concern.
"You ask not who we are, but what we want. You don't desire to know who's taken you from your home?"
She shrugged and inspected her nails, sneering at the dirt and grime that had collected there from the floor of her cage.
"I don't much care. It's not like it matters. You want something from me like everyone else who's ever gone to the trouble of snatching me away. And like all those before you'll be disappointed when you don't get what you want. Same old song and dance."
He chuckled at her obstinance and the look in his eyes was almost fond.
"Ah but we expected this fire from you, his memories were clear on that."
It was bait, plain and simple, and she knew it. But something about his statement stirred her alarm.
"His... memories?"
"Oh yes, that fallen prince I caught in my net. It was his memories that led me to you. He was so easy to break and sift through, half cracked already when I offered him the peace of my friendship. But he was ignorant of the power he held in his hands when he had you, and I cannot forgive such ignorance. I had to rescue you."
She swallowed her horror and rage, tucking away this knew knowledge into a back pocket to examine later. Right now, she had a purple thing to piss off.
"You call this a rescue, pal? Either you have no basic manners to speak of or we come from places with wildly different ideas about hospitality."
"The hospitality will come, but first you must prove your loyalty to my cause. Sweet Soul Stone, I ask that you lend me your strength that I may avenge the universe."
Kagome looked past the kneeling purple alien into the faces of the women who'd come with him. Neither looked amused, which meant this guy was serious.
"Uh, I have no idea what you're talking about. Soul Stone? What the hell is that? And what does the universe even need avenging from?"
His gaze was impenetrable and dark, and she felt like things were about to take a turn she didn't like.
"From life." He reached back behind him, and the blue woman placed something in his hand.
"I expected a fight, so I came prepared. If the Stone is using you without your knowledge, I will simply extract it."
He drew closer and revealed what appeared to be a glowing blade of pure energy. Pushing through the bars of her cage, he touched it to her skin and just managed to gasp around the excruciating pain when the deep, unending well of power inside her swelled up and consumed her, pushing her consciousness down and taking control of her body.
"STOP!"
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A blade at his throat, a virulent threat.
"Betray him and I'll kill you."
After a volley of threats from his so called friends and even a pathetic slap from Thor's little human woman, Loki wanted to be angry at yet another jab at him and how far he'd fallen from all of their esteem, but mischief glittered deep in Sif's eyes and he felt like he may yet have at least the shadow of an ally in her.
"It's good to see you again Sif."
The light in her eyes turned from secretly amused to pleading, and she grabbed his wrist as he stepped away after Thor.
"Please Loki, bring her back to us."
He nodded with firm resolve and she gave him a tremulous smile.
Shaky, broken friendship is still friendship though, and he's not feeling up to pushing anyone else away. And most importantly, she's loyal to his bride.
"I will. On my life I will see her returned."
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"STOP!"
Thanos stumbled backward, closer to his daughters who readied weapons for their defense. Nothing like this had been found in the knowledge gleaned from that useless prince he'd taken control of. The girl before him was expected to be hard to break, difficult to sway, firm in her resolve.
But the display she was currently putting on was equal parts breathtaking and terrifying. Her eyes glowed with holy light and her skin shimmered in pink electric sparks. Her voice had gone deep and choral, as if all the ages spoke from within her.
Was this the power of the Soul Stone?
"We will not allow our vessel to harmed, Death Bringer. We are not the stone you search for."
"She lies!" Nebula barked from behind him, and he raised his hand to silence her.
"You are not a Stone of Souls? What are you then?"
"Connection to Souls is the only comparison between us and the rock of destruction you seek. But we are not your stone. We are a jewel forged from the souls of battle, and we have been pacified in the soul of our chosen priestess, but if you attempt to harm our Chosen again, we will be forced to rectify your arrogance. Painfully."
Her threat was not empty, but Thanos had not come so far to give up.
He would never give up.
He stepped forward again, energy blade at the ready, and his captive power source crouched like an animal ready to pounce. He pushed forward despite her warnings, and then she screamed guttural battle cry as beautiful, terrible power bloomed from her skin and forced them away.