Truths

The conformity of reality

Steaming water filled the white tiled bathroom with an ominous fog that danced around the crimson light shade. A bruised and battered Fury hissed under the security of the fog-filled abyss. Her armour peeled off her skin with a defiant resistance.

"Argh!", She threw it onto the ground with unexplained anger. She wanted to burn it. To throw it into an incinerator and watch fragments of it try to escape. She had freed herself from it after a short while. Her hand swiped away the fog that coated the arched mirror almost startling herself at the sight. She looked weak and frail. Her eyes shadowed in a dark semicircle. Cheeks sharpened with anorexic neglect. There was no warmth in her eyes or smile, only sickness.

"Fuck", An unholy purple and red bruise twisted around her arm from her wrist to shoulder like watercolour splashed against her tattoo. Deep finger-shaped bruised scattered from her shoulder to her waist. She was a mess. Even her skin had adopted a dull sheen of death that aged her terribly. It caught the breath in her throat. She looked away. She hoped her death would be quick. That she wouldn't have to wither away into nothingness. Doomed to become incoherent in her speech and useless in her action but her mind awake and screaming.

The hot water swept away the build-up of pressure in her chest. She sat for a moment, watching the water spray down on her with her knees brought to her chest. In a city crawling with countless people, she had never felt so alone. Condemned by the flame that had protected her.

"Furya you cannot prevail. I forbid you to try. It is hellfire your father has passed to you. A flame of the gods", Seraphina warned with tears brimmed in her fading blue eyes that sagged with wisdom. Mother of Fury. An Infamous Vampire. The last. In her moments before death, she pleaded. Soft skin gripped at Fury. The old woman had fight left.

"Death will come before its time, Fury. Fire is a Vampire's Curse", Fury's teeth gritted with agitation, grasping at the wound on her neck where her dear old mother had bitten her. She never much liked the woman.

Blood streamed down her pale skin. Even in her pain, she saw the hunger light in Seraphina's eyes at the crimson fluid. She was no more than a beast. A beast held down by agonizing pain. Fury knelt in the thick snow of Romania, she had travelled a distance to find her. Her frozen fingers grasped at the white skin that exposed itself from her mother's tattered red dress. Her fangs were still stained in Fury's blood as she screamed for mercy from the flame that charred her insides.

"Then I suppose I'll burn", Fury sneered through her subtle jab. The silver blade in her palm sunk into the beast's chest with ease.

"La revedere" (Goodbye), Fury stepped back from the woman who became engulfed in an orange flame. Bright and burning under the shade of the forest.

A lifetime passed before Fury returned to Loki's dark and dust filled room that creaked with the shuffling of her footsteps. He huffed a disgruntled breath that tore his sights from the tapered ceiling where he had become lost in his own though. The bed underneath him grumbled in protest at his vertically sprawled body that jolted up ever so slightly to behold the silver-haired heathen. She was dressed differently. Too comfortably for his own taste. Her 'shirt' was the exact cut of her vest but clung tightly against her skin, cinching into a crossed over strap at against her back. It was sleeveless and black. What he assumed in mortal fashion was used for exercise, just the same as her deep red 'pants' that clung to her the same. No pockets or element of surprise could be hidden, swiftness had to be there purpose. She hadn't acknowledged his presence as of yet, but she undoubtedly knew she had his attention. Something plagued her mind. It gave her a vacant expression in her eyes while she relocated his ivory floor rug to the left of the room, dragging it with one corner.

The bright flicker of blue filtered light sprung to life from the chrome chandelier, all six bulbs that sat above the handcrafted gothic metal work illuminated the centre of the chamber in seconds. His emerald eyes watched the draping silver jewels sway with the breeze that escaped the crack in his window. The shattered glass that Thor had rained upon his floor. Glancing away with an irritated sigh.

Under the harsh white light, Fury seemed out of place. The white and black room was conflicted by the blue and purple that was stamped in patches against the dark swirling ink up her arm and onto her neck. Like watercolour splashed against her. Disgusting, she looked like a disgusting mess.

"Why Fury, you look simply...repulsive", He slipped off the bed, joining her in the centre of the room. She held a black marker in her hand, stuffing it into the small pocket of her pants. Her eyes darted to the bruises on her limbs with an amused expression.

"Yeah, your brother is-", The vulgar words almost escaped her mouth without fear of recompense. She knew exactly how to match his wit. His silent daggers would have to do. He was too close to finding her secrets. After a moment of enduring her mocking smile, he motioned his wrist, ushering her to sit. Pain sprung in her eyes as she folded her legs and planted that muscular body on the ground.

"Before I reveal to you my mastery of your craft, I do require some answers", Her low voice triggered a swift roll of his eyes, crossing his arms at his chest. "Naturally", He breathed out.

"So sit down and buckle up Princess", That smile, that infuriating mocking smile taunted him to no end. He was a God. One who should be king. He should have taught her the repercussions of that smile. But he didn't. He couldn't. Not before he knew what his creature possessed. So he sat like an obedient dog.

"That purple creature in your thoughts...he stripped your power, your magic.", It wasn't a question or a heartfelt concern. It was a confrontation. That wench had wormed her way unknowingly into his mind. A dangerous place to be. His face dropped for a moment, hidden behind his sadistic smile, behind his perfectly aligned teeth. Panic stung in his veins, remembering the purple-skinned creature well.

"No", The words were calmed by his smile that forced his rage into a deep sleep. She didn't deserve to know, but she wanted to. Those blue eyes, so calm and commanding. Beneath them, her heart beat without restraint. Those pointed fangs underneath her smirk, almost spellbinding. She wanted to know. Someone wanted to know. Strange.

She waited, knowing he would continue his answer if he wanted her secrets. And he did want them. As tempting as it was to raid her thoughts, she was strong. Though her body withered her mind had always ushered him astray, it shut him out, lead him down paths with no end, rooms with no doors. How had she prepared herself against it? How could she deflect him so well?... Unless-

"...They still exist but they do not belong to me. They belonged to the pure blood that once coursed through my veins...They don't recognise me anymore...It is quite the disappointment", Loki's eyes drifted to the fireplace, it sparked with a vibrant blue glow that wicked the cold air away. Fury bowed her head with understanding, her lips pursed in thought. Once again that black marker appeared in sight and his eyebrows furrowed. Watching as she placed herself in the centre of the circle, almost crushing his legs with her bluntness.

"Move", She ordered, shooing him like a child. He shifted his legs with a murmur of curses. She had the manners of a stable kept pig. Moving close, too close. He could distinctly make out the fang points of that scar against her white neck. It shined in the dim light. Glossy and white. Like a map, illuminated only to him. She started to flex her tattoed arm but stopped quickly to meet his eyes.

"Now this is for educational purposes. Don't be a pervert", Fury warned lightly with that damned smirk while her body shifted to face her tattoed sleeve toward him. She reefed the neckline of her scarce top that had drifted lower in her movement.

"Dear Fury, rest assured that a human...Half-breed would never be so honoured", Loki replied with wit, impatiently urging her to carry on.

Flame trickled down the black tattoo. Each line was slowly eaten by the rolling fire, consumed by its electric blue light that sprung to life in her palm. She waited. Not giving him an inch of a clue. The lines. It had to be the lines that somehow granted her immortal power. His fingers softly touched the fire pattern that swirled like lava in a volcano, waiting to burst. How? How had she harnessed the power at such a specific point? Most required trinkets and spellbound jewellery. It was almost impossible to do so. The lines. His eyes followed them once over. Then again. They swirled and intersected at four points, only four. Four very familiar shapes formed under his stare.

"...You did not-", He struggled to say the words over the idiotic grin that pulled at his mouth. A fool she was. An uneducated fool. The assumption he had made that she may have had a shred of power widened that mocking grin. He breathed out a restrained laugh from his nose, sealing his lips shut to suppress the humour.

Fury didn't laugh, Fury didn't say much at all as the flame retreated to the intersecting lines, illuminating four of the worst sigils one could have pressed on their skin. Out came that black marker from her pocket. She motioned for his arm with the commanding gesture of her fingers. His eyebrow raised, extending it toward her. She carelessly tore through his leather arm brace, discarding of it in her lap. The cool brush tip of the marker swept against his skin. She held his arm upright at his wrist, staining his skin with three symbols.

"Bring me back a blade of grass from Midgard", She ordered without any care in her voice. A blade of grass? He couldn't teleport across worlds, not after that creature ripped his strength from his veins.

"I ca-", "I think you'll find you can"

Loki flinched abruptly as the glossy floor disappeared underneath him in an eddy of light. Grass. He saw grass attached in spears of green against the dark soil of Midgard. He knelt to feel it in his fingers. It was real and dancing in the breeze against his hold. The symbols on his forearm glowed a spectacular green, a colour he much adored. The feeling was euphoric. The potential for chaos was limitless. Green mist swirled around him in a manner most sinister, a smile pressed against his lips as the emerald fog enveloped his being and once more he was returned to Fury. She was so weak, so easily defeated. It seemed only to easy to snap that slender neck. He wanted to try.

So easily his hand curled around that white skin. He blinked and there he was, fingers pressed against her neck. She didn't seem scared though her eyes widened softly, a sigh loosed from her lips. He was no more in control than he was during his reign over New York. Blue eyes warned him once, only once to surrender. He wouldn't, he couldn't control the swirling mist that licked at Fury's skin coming closer and closer. It wanted her. It needed her dead. Her calm faded with the tightening of his hand like she was waiting for something. Her ragged breath was music to his ears. He relished in the tensing of her muscles in his grasp that pinned her wrist and her neck against the tapered wall, forcing a puff of dust to escape the black framed sconce. He wanted her to die intimately and slowly. Loki's eyes trailed the hollowness of her collarbones, a smile crested on his lips. His orbs pried with invisible hands at her form. Lusting with unsurpassed restrain.

A slender hand shot to his bare arm, Fury gripped it with all her might, smudging the black ink from her marker. The sigils receded immediately, tearing his film of magic from him, sucking it back into the dark night. A fool, an utter fool she was. Just as her hand gripped his skin he turned over her wrist with his own forceful strength. His eyes met the black stripes that formed a barcode on her inner forearm. A prison brand. Above it another brand loomed, retreating into her skin with a green spark. It was small but easily depicted the three Norns, holding in their skeletal hands the web of fate. Their faces were distorted in objection at the sheer blindfolds covering those decrepit dead eyes.

"Oh, dear", He smiled. She had gotten herself into an unbreakable contract. To defy the Norns was to change what once was, what shall be and what is coming into. The Norns themselves held no vengeance. But the magical being that branded her wouldn't be so generous. He felt the anger that surged in waves of fury. She was to die by his hand. A sorcerer. There was only one. One who could have been ignorant enough to believe he had changed fate. A collector of power, A demon.

"You must have been truly desperate to have made a bargain with Valerian, Loki's eyes watched her stiffen at his words. "...Or was it a brand gained in matrimony?", He revelled in the distasteful scowl that painted her face. "He so badly wanted my magic that he defiled my skin with dark magic without a second thought... he loved so hard and possessively that he strangled me...This symbol is the only thing that keeps him blind to my whereabouts but it won't stop him from collecting my magic when I die", Fury motioned to the fourth sigil on her arm, one she hadn't illustrated onto his skin.

"And what did you do to warrant such a reaction?", Loki absentmindedly asked, watching the commotion outside. Lights flickered in the sky. His funeral was only moments away.

"When I left. I didn't leave his court of demons standing", She grumbled, shooting toward the balcony to see the funeral. Loki smirked, imagining the flames that followed her departure. He followed her with hesitance, stopping just a few feet away from Fury on the balcony. The rain had dulled lightly, spraying soft wetness against his skin in the quick wind.

"About that final wish", He smiled, warranting a swift scowl onto Fury's face. "No creature impure has ever tarnished those satin sheets. Don't set aside your prejudice now", She hissed, murmuring under her breath. "Desperate times", He returned her sinister scowl. She smiled and he watched her take a leap toward him. Those blue eyes circulated with mischief and her mouth perked into a smirk that revealed those pointed fangs. She neared closer, her eyes circling him. His body stiffened in her abrupt closeness, feeling the urge to back away from the creature. Disgusting. Her breed was disgusting. A tragedy for her to be so impure. Fury didn't lay a hand on him, barely brushing him with her body. He imagined her fangs piercing into his flesh, the feeling of her ragged breath against his neck as he-

"Stop it", Loki warned in a harsh tone, squirming away from her invasion of his mind. It was foul and abhorrent. Inducing the sensation to dry retch. But yet it was so forbidden and unimaginably deranged...What.

"Out!", The words rolled off his tongue with potent malice.

"I'm not in your head, dear Loki. You couldn't handle it", He despised the way she pronounced 'it' in the low tone that she did. Her voice like silk. "Besides, that wasn't your last wish"

"Oh?"

"No, you wanted a friend"

"A friend", Loki breathed out with venom. A friend? "Tell me...Friend, what is it you want?"

Fury inclined that beautifully mischievous mind to look at him. He revelled in the dissonance that veiled in and out of her clenched jawed expression. The discontent of those blue orbs. Her chest heaved in a heavy breath. This would, in fact, be more fun than he initially realised.

"Oh, it must be humiliating to have to lower yoursel-"

"Shut up, Loki", Fury cut off his rant in a tone low and contemplative. She was waiting. Waiting to ask something of him. She didn't want to. He could almost see the idea crawl underneath her lightly freckled skin.

"When Valerian finds me, it can only end in war. I won't let him attain my magic. I can't...", Loki watched her throat bob with uncomfortable silence. Relishing in the difficulty it took her to spit out her thought. Tragic

"Take it", Fury gritted her teeth, holding out her arm in gesture. "What?", Loki stumbled over the words, angling his head in case he had misheard.

"You want power. Take mine...I'm offering it to you", She repeated.

"And why...why would you offer me such a gift?", Loki hounded with mistrust. Surely he hadn't gained her meaningless pity.

"Because despite your intolerable presence and innate narcissism, magic is the one thing you treat with respect. You wouldn't dare tempt the bounds of it.",

The God of Mischief narrowed his eyes with suspicion.

"...I'm dead what use would your magic serve?", Loki spoke simply, gaining a smirk from Fury's crimson lips.

"We both know you won't stay dead. God of Mischief", She was indeed an intellect among his people.

"When your immortality is taken and you feel deaths cold grasp. Mercifully take it upon yourself to assume I am finished associating with you Half-breed "

"Pathetic and predictable. What's to miss?", It was their goodbye, the best they would get from each other.

"My overwhelming knowledge of magic and unchallenged intellect", It was a well-rehearsed quip that failed to meet her agreement.

"Loki", She wasn't in the exact mood for his quips or him for that point. To hear his name beneath those rose coloured lips that formed a thin line in her defiance. Euphoric in the desperateness that escaped the rough tone of her voice. What once was deep and commanding now wavering into carefully thought words. Light in her tone but still just as deadly in her eyes. Frigga, she reminded him of Frigga in her vulnerability. So light in her tone but so able to destroy him if he took advantage.

"Hmmm", His feet trailed in circles around her, like he was examining the invisible aura of her power that had faded to a dull mist to touch. Humans and Asgardians couldn't see nor feel the presence of magic, but he could, Frigga could also. He doubted Fury had any such ability, not that he could peek into her mind to see. That beautifully sadistic mind had walls, impenetrable walls made of stone. Always up in her waking moments.

He hadn't felt her power since she had drained so much of it into her useless endeavour to save his brother. He wondered if it would pack near the same punch. His fingers fluttered against the wind, opening Fury's eyes to the overpowering emerald shadow that clung to him, that swirled with vigour around the balcony, so vibrant in pulsating energy. The veil he opened was the world through a magical being's eyes. A world that Valerian saw and in that world Fury was brighter than a homing beacon, burning in a shadow of colours only seen within the Bifrost. Red, Blue, Purple, Green, Yellow, Orange and Pink all backlit and bordered by a pulsating white light that was almost blinding to behold.

Fury didn't seem to hold his expression of awe, watching the reflection of his emerald orbs pulsate with life. Her eyes trailed the unimpressive green shadow that emitted from his power, spanning over the city in a ghostly wave. Awe utter awestruck. He prepared himself for a surprise but not this.

It wouldn't matter if Valerian died by her hand. He had a feeling Valerian was the reason she was still alive, that his bounty had kept her alive. Beings would come from unworldly places to steal that kind of power. Perhaps they'd keep her alive while the magic was torn from her being. Perhaps they'd kill her. It didn't matter now.

"Dear Fury, You make an irrefutable offer. I will be your saviour", Loki lowered his voice that radiated with child-like awe and wonder. He shut the veil to keep from distraction. Her mouth curled into a sinister smirk that returned her rough tone of disdain.

"My hero", She spat with an effort to keep from rolling her eyes.