Legal Disclaimer: My work is my own creative intelligence and property, but I do not own the original source material it stems from (I wouldn't be writing fanfiction if it was). The opinions and interpretations of characters reflected in my stories may not follow what is portrayed from the source material. Please don't sue me, I'm a stay at home mom.
Competition/Challenge Block
Written for/Stacked with: Monthly Challenges for All (Year 4)
MC4A: Su Bingo (1B-Kiln/Oven); Fa Bingo (2E-Death); Settings Bingo (1B-Icy); Ship Bingo (4A-Pub/Bar); AU Bingo (1B-Afterlife/Underworld); Chimera (Protection; Soul Marks!AU; "Your Arms Feel Like Home" by 3 Doors Down; Cerulean); Ship War (Fa Micro 2 [Death]; Fa Med 1 [Moment Interruptions]; Su Micro 1 [Soul Marks]; Su Med 2 [Matching Marks; Marks on Skin]); Hunt (Fa Items [Glass/Cup]); Fireworks (AU Reserve); Link (Same Circle); Garden (Meteorology [Icy]; Bed Types [Pub/Bar]; Blossoms [Burgundy]); ICs (Short Jog (Y); Bucket Listing (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Neurodivergent x2 (Yx2); Rian-Russo Inversion (Y); Setting Sail (Y); Future Era (Y); Magical MCx2 (Yx2); Extraterrestrial MCx2; Shifter MCx2 (Yx2); Endings; Old Shoes (Y); Marvelous Cinema; Sliding Scale; Citrus Sale (Y); Colors Galore (Y)); BCs ([Primary] NC (Rock of Ages; Most Human Beans); StL (Lock & Key; Car in a Tutu); ToS (Spinning Plates); FPC (Not a Lamp; Ladylike; Persistence Still); [Secondary] RoB (In the Trench); AV (Creature Feature); ER (Unicorn; A Long Dog); Fence (Machismo); [Tertiary] HoSE (Sanctuary); O3 (Oust); FR (Evolution); SN (Ameliorate); T3 (Thimble); [Generic] Mea (Rampant); War (Sanctuary; Obstruction); CM (Brier; Unilateral)); (LL; NC; SIN; StL; ToS; FPC; MLG; RoB; AV; ER; Fence; Star; HoSE; O3; FR; SN; T3; Mea; War; CM)
Author's Note: I had this little what if in my head floating around on if Sylvie decided to indulge rather than sulk at a lake. Don't get me wrong, I love that scene so, so much, but I write stories to tweak details for a reason. :3
This also calls back to Don't You Realize Now? (I Decide My Own Fate) and Ever the Crafty One with Loki's Soul Mark. So, if you're interested in that, there you go. :)
Word Count: 1,100
Warning Tag: Grinding/Dry Humping; Making Out
When Facing Imminent Death
Sylvie turned and walked away the second the meteor obliterated their last chance of escape right before their eyes. There was an inkling of doubt that this plan would have worked already when Loki first mentioned it, now it felt like a feeble attempt to salvage any reason for them to stay together. Maybe it would've worked if they managed to stay on the train…
She went back to the bar space they ran through moments before and grabbed the first bottle her hands hit and took a very long drag from it. Her eyes burned from rage, anger, bitterness, disappointment, sadness, hopelessness, betrayal… loneliness. This was not how her story was supposed to end; unfulfilled, unaccomplished, and still utterly alone. She drained the rest of the bottle and threw it into a corner before reaching for another one.
Loki quietly approached her, magically shutting the doors with a hand flourish so no stray intruder made their way in before slowly sitting down beside her. Sylvie couldn't look at him, not yet, so instead she busied herself with the fresh bottle of spirit while looking out at the wide picture window that overlooked the remains of the moon and its lake in the distance. The planet broke apart in fragments before her eyes, drifting and looming ominously close now.
"I'm sorry," Loki half-whispered.
She could see from the corner of her eye he was fidgeting with his hands as if not knowing what to do with them. Without thinking, she handed the bottle over to him to get him to stop it and grabbed for a new one without missing a beat and took another swig. She didn't even register it's awful taste, she just wanted to be numb, to not feel anything at all.
"The universe wants to break free, so it manifests chaos…"
Still, it was enough to let the floodgates open, it seemed. She was going to die anyway, there was no need to be on guard anymore, to protect herself and hold her cards close to her chest. So she talked to the only person who stuck around, whether by choice or for survival, it didn't matter anymore.
"You're amazing!" Loki blurted during his little speech after she shared her soul with him, offering words of comfort, praise, and encouragement she didn't know she needed to hear.
He probably had never heard it, either, yet gave it freely still. It was admirable, alluring, attractive. They were going to die anyway… baring one's soul a final time never harmed anyone, right? Being allowed to go out happy… content… in control one last time.
Sylvie found herself kissing him then. There was no hesitation in her movements nor his as they accepted each other this way. It wasn't the alcohol that drove her, it hadn't even set in yet, she knew. This was something else entirely that drew her in, that made her want to be vulnerable with Loki. Maybe it was because this was the end of her life that influenced it… to be with the one who was responsible for their deaths. It was poetic and twisted, just like they were.
She wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and pulled him closer while she slid from her seat onto his lap in a single fluid motion. Curling her fingers in his hair as she continued to consume him. His hands found her shoulder blades, holding her firmly against him to stabilize her while his back pressed into the side of the bar's counter. Her back was to not one, but two doors now; she no longer cared. They were going to die anyway… Why not at least enjoy their last moments in one's own company? This is what it was, right? They were one and the same.
The room started to give off an icy chill as they radiated their coldness out and around them from the intimate moment they exchanged, frosting the abandoned liquor bottles beside them. This was what also made them different, in the heat of passion that sent people basking in the warmth of each other like the oven of summer, instead they relished in the bone-chilling bite of winter, of who they really were, who they both shamefully hid from the world and themselves. Ice crystals littered across the counter and down to the floor around them, tinkling their song as they formed in the quietness of impending doom.
Gripping her thighs around Loki's sides roused a breathy moan from him, allowing her to rock against his groin and rub against her sweet spot there just so. Loki's hands wandered some, a hand firmly planting to the small of her back while the other tangled in her hair, encouraging her, wanting her. Sylvie's hands cradled his face as she pulled back for a breath, seeing her fingers turning blue and that his face tinged blue under them as well, a trace of old magic that retained their appearances was even affected by whatever this was. He looked at her with swollen lips and heavy gasps and she traced her icy fingers over them, soothing them as she stared into his emerald eyes darkened with desire. She only dragged her gaze away from his face to watch the impact of an asteroid strike the surface from the window. Any moment now, too bad this couldn't last just a bit longer…
Sylvie was good at taking what she needed quickly yet satisfactorily, but she wanted to savor this moment. Remember in her final moments how Loki felt grinding back against her, drinking her in as she explored his mouth with her tongue. She never noticed the runic mark on his wrist, shimmering a dull gold against his skin, easy to miss if not looking for it. Both of their magic was on the fritz, swirling intensely around them, making it difficult to notice her own personal mark showing up on her own wrist and his opposite one to the other. The shape of a Z with a line across the middle shimmered a cerulean blue against his pale skin, mimicking her own now hidden under her sleeve.
Without realizing it, she decided that he was hers, and marked him as such.
An all too familiar sound was heard then, and Sylvie all but leapt from Loki's lap to whip around, weapon drawn even now from reflexes and second nature, she stared into the double orange portals standing tall in front of her.
Sylvie wasn't sure if it was relief or fear that settled in her chest at their saving grace.