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When Kagome woke again it was back to the sight of the ugly metal cage in the ugly metal room. She was alone, so she took a moment to let the fear, hopelessness and frustration that she'd been holding at bay take over, and she choked out a sob and wiped at a few hot tears.

'I can't fucking believe this. I JUST got Loki back and then I go get myself kidnapped? I thought I'd grown past this!'

She felt so small and weak, catapulted back into the mind and body of that pitiful 15 year old girl she'd been at the start of everything. Young and helpless, constantly relying on the protection of others, always at the mercy of those stronger than her.

She was so much older, stronger and experienced. She was not that child anymore, how could she have fallen into that trap again?

'Hating myself doesn't do me any good right now. I got caught putting everything I had into protecting my home and my family, and I guess there's no shame in that.'

But there was no Inuyasha this time to come bursting through walls or windows and sweep her away, and her Asgardian family had no idea where she was.

'Have they noticed I'm gone? Will they even tell Loki? Will he be stuck down there alone with no knowledge that I'm never coming back because someone stole me away?'

The anger, the bitterness was thick and sour, and apparently forgiveness for them all was still over the horizon. But still she missed them and longed to return to them.

She remembered something then, one of the dreams she'd had after her capture, of a time so long ago on a whole other world.

'I forgot all about that. I... saved myself that time. Inuyasha may have saved my body, but I saved my mind and soul. I'm so much stronger now, I don't have to wait anymore for someone else to do the rescuing. I may have to bide my time for a while though.'

The door of the room her cage was kept slid open and the woman from before with blue skin walked in. She paced slowly in front of the cage, keeping eye contact, stalking and slinking like a jungle cat. Kagome assumed she was attempting to be intimidating, and with her strange, inhuman eyes and the metal plates and bits screwed into her skin over various parts of her body, she probably would be intimidating.

But Kagome was the wrong person to try that tactic on. She'd spent her whole life around intimidating people, befriended them, made them her family, so she leaned back against the bars of her prison and watched her strange captor with a blank, bored expression.

Finally, the woman stopped, staring her straight in the eyes, arms crossed over her chest, mouth set in a firm, straight line.

"Thanos has decided to keep you."

Kagome blinked and then glanced down at her fingernails, inspecting the grit and grime that had gathered in the places they'd split and torn.

"Yippee."

"You are not the Stone he desired."

"I could have told him that."

"You did."

"Whoops. Must have slipped my mind."

Kagome shifted her attention back up into those large, black pupils, lifting one brow, meeting the obvious challenge, shattering her attempt to prove dominant and intimidating.

"Father thinks you could prove useful."

"Father?"

"Thanos."

"So, you're his daughter?"

"Yes."

She filed that information away for later and decided to press for a little more.

"And the green woman?"

"My sister."

"Interesting. Is there any particular reason you're bothering me right now or is this an attempt at some kind of interrogation?"

Thanos's daughter paused again, staring at her unblinking, unmoving, and it was almost unnerving.

"No. I have no questions, only information. Father is still recovering and unable to come to you himself, but he wished you to know he'll be utilizing your power despite it not being the power he was looking for."

"Excuse me, he'll be what with my power? I don't think so. I don't cater to the whims of any old psychopath, my power is mine and I decide how it's used."

A blink, a head tilt, and the blue woman turned back to the door.

"Very well. But father will be most displeased."

Kagome shrugged and examined her nails again, effectively dismissing the whole meeting.

"I'll add him to the list."

——————-

She'd dozed off sitting up against the cage bars, but the sound of the automatic door sliding open woke her again. This time the green woman stepped in, and her energy was totally different from the other. Confident where the other seemed forced, the green woman strode right up to her cage and crossed her arms, sizing her up before pulling a key and set of what looked like cuffs from her back pocket.

"Time to shower."

She rolled her eyes and held her hands out so they could be cuffed and then shuffled out of the cage and allowed her newest visitor to lead her to what she assumed would be a bathing facility.

"You're not putting up much of a fight."

"This isn't my first time."

Eyeing her again in curiosity, the green woman looked around to make sure they were alone.

"I'm Gamora."

Considering the pros and cons for a moment, and deciding that it wouldn't do much harm, Kagome nodded and returned her introduction.

"Kagome. And your sister?"

"Nebula." Gamora's eyes narrowed a moment and she paused outside another door before pressing her hand against a scan pad and opening it. "How did you know we were sisters?"

"Nebula mentioned something."

"Hm."

Once inside, Gamora closed the door and removed her cuffs before gesturing toward a metal box and pressing a button to turn the water on. Steam began filling the room, and despite herself, Kagome itched to get inside.

"I'll be back with clothes. This door locks from the outside, so don't bother trying to escape."

"Yeah yeah, I got it. No escape. Whatever."

When the door slid closed and she was alone, Kagome practically ripped her torn, dirty dress from her body. She tossed it in a heap and removed her underclothes, adding them to her dress pile. She reached up and grabbed her necklace, the locket Loki had had made for her but stopped short of taking it off.

'Something tells me that would be a bad idea.'

She kept it on and hopped into the shower. The hot water streamed down her skin and and soaked her hair, and she quickly found what passed for soap and scrubbed it through her hair and skin, removing the film of grime and grit that had coated her in that cage.

Finally clean, in the seclusion of the steamy metal box, Kagome allowed all the recent events to catch up and break her. The sound of the running water drowned out her broken sobs, the water mixed with and washed away her tears, but the heat did nothing to chase away the chill in her soul.

There was no telling how far she'd been taken from her home, from her heart. She prayed for the first time in centuries that someone, anyone would actually bother to tell Loki what had happened, unsure she'd even be heard since she was now counted among the very gods she beseeched. She mourned the happy, easy life she'd lived with a family, a husband, friends, a happiness she'd fought so hard to claim and keep, ripped away mercilessly and crushed into dust.

Would she ever make it back? Would she be whole again?

The door to the shower room slid open and she placed a barrier around her body without thinking, needing to do something to protect herself while naked and vulnerable, but Gamora called out when she entered and despite being one of her captors, Kagome felt a modicum of relief to know it wasn't yet another stranger.

"It's me. I've brought a towel and some clothes. I'll have to burn the ones you came in, Thanos demands all ties to previous lives he sundered."

Kagome gulped and clasped her locket, grateful she hadn't taken it off. At this point, she'd have fought a blood bath to keep it.

"That's.. fine. They're dirty anyway."

The thought of her pretty dress made of fine Asgardian silk being burnt to ash left a sour taste in her mouth, but she'd learned that choosing her battles when in captivity was important for survival and eventual escape.

Gamora tossed the towel over the top of the shower door. She quickly wrapped it around her body and stepped out, eyeing the stack of clothing which consisted of something white and fluttery and not much else.

She lifted it, and it unfolded into a shapeless white dress.

"What the hell is this?" She asked with disgust, eyeing the shirt and pants Gamora was wearing.

"Thanos was inspired by the purity in your power display."

Kagome rolled her eyes with a snort.

"I'd rather go naked."

Gamora shrugged and twirled her ring of keys around her finger.

"Ship's drafty."

With a sigh, Kagome dropped her towel and slipped the dress on. She felt ridiculous, like she was wearing a Halloween angel costume.

'This just gets better and better doesn't it?'

Holding her hands back out, Kagome resigned herself to being cuffed again, and then was led to a much bigger, much cleaner cage in a much nicer room.

"What's with the change in scenery? Your dad trying to butter me up?"

"Thanos is very accommodating to those who ally themselves with him."

Her answers were were practiced, rehearsed, robotic, and Kagome could sense the early shades of resentment beginning to color her aura.

"I see. Sorry that I'll have to disappoint him, then."

She was put in the new cage, uncuffed, and left alone again. The lights were shut off, and with no windows to speak of in her new little room not even the meager star light of deep space could break up the suffocating thickness of the dark. Taking a deep, cleansing breath to stave off her panic, Kagome fished around in her neckline and pulled out her locket. She opened it, and the holographic image of her and Loki in their wedding finery, smiling, happy, and at peace gave enough illumination to keep her from feeling completely lost and forgotten.

She studied his face as it had been, remembered their life together, the vibrancy of him and his chaos and how secure it felt to have him wrap it around you as protection instead of trickery.

She missed him so badly it ached.

She allowed one spare tear to fall, snapped the locket shut and closed her eyes.

She would get back to him. She would. That was the only goal now. She remembered the things Heimdall said about worlds being on her shoulders but she was tired of carrying the fates of millions.

So she wouldn't.

She would cast off fate, for it had never done her any favors.

Instead, she would start doing what she wanted and needed. And what she wanted, what she needed more than anything... was Loki.

Kagome Higurashi was no one's bitch, and she would no longer bow to anyone else's whims.

Not Thanos's.

Not Odin's.

Not the Jewel's.

Not Naraku's.

And definitely not Fate's.