Chapter 5

"What the hell?" Stark exclaimed loudly. Avengers suddenly whipped into furries of activities. Thor grasped Loki who was now incapacitated. His eyes were rolled back and took heaving breath. His finger twitched and his skin was cold as marble.

"Check his neck, right now." The Black Widow ordered and Thor turned Loki around and parted long pitch-black hair. Thor realized Loki's hair was unkempt and wet with sweat. Thor couldn't remember last time Loki went through his day without showering and coordinating his outfit. He always teased him for that and said he was like a girl.

How much he regret teasing him now. It seemed small and trivial.

Against the chalk-white ivory skin was deep blue Jem embedded into the skin and hatched blue veins open like a spider web. Hulk, finally returned back to Dr. Barton, gasped in horror. "What the hell is that?"

"Corroded Mind gem." Thor grimaced. Then, he turned to look back at curious and anxious Avenger. "Loki is being controlled."

Loki screamed until he couldn't scream anymore.

He was in the dark. He could hear his blood dripping and seeping slowly in between the crack of rough terrain. He screamed again as they stabbed an already blood dripping dagger into his stomach.

At least his stomach was empty.

He couldn't remember how long he was in the dark. But he knew he counted 4 stabbings into his stomach and at least 6 slices on his bareback. His breathing came out warmly with a sickly taste of iron in his mouth. But blood was his water. He couldn't remember any other taste anymore except blood.

It was going to be alright. Loki thought between whimpers. It's alright.

Until it wasn't.

They planted mind gem into him. A gem that was long ago banished by law when slavery across the 8 worlds has become illegal. But that didn't mean abolished slavery disappeared. It just became rare as the stone.

It was a long process where he was weaned off security spell he had planted in his mind to ward off against mind-controlling spell. They turned his own thought against him and slowly, surely, he knew he was going insane. So he did only one thing he could do while left captive by the rock and driven to a point of no return by Mad Titan. He left his own suicide mental trigger deep inside of his mind and the trigger was harming Thor specifically with his own dagger.

It worked like a charm but once again in his mind, both forces were fighting for control. He didn't want to remember and he also didn't want to die. But his options were limited with slithering blue vein that pulsates the wall of his prison.

He knew he was inside a dream. He had to wake up. He didn't want to re-live his torturous memory and without the control of his mind, everything felt jarringly real. He didn't know how long he could last in his tainted mind before giving out to complete control of Mind Jem. But he also felt relieved as he aligned his teeth to bite his tongue.

If nothing worked out, he could finally die in peace. His tired green eyes gaze down to his feet that still shined in determination. He would die on his accord.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eyes, the Other clasped its bony hand over his mouth.

"Dear Prince, we can't have you finishing your own role so early on. You must continue to live..and suffer!" Other whispered into his ears. He gently coaxed a mind gem behind Loki's neck and slowly, the sharp numbing cold began to creep behind his back. Loki gasped as if he was drowning.

Another deep solemn voice interrupted from deep in the abyss. "Death would be too good for you." It had no menacing hatred but resonated with indifference. It raised its purple hand and gestured in boredom to continue.

"No, no..no." It was so cold, so cold. He didn't want to touch the icy cold that freezes his bones so sharply, it felt as if it was burning. Loki lurched in pain with tears trickling down from his consuming blue eyes. He tried to cry out before the cold took him but he could only let out a strangled breath as the darkness consumed him and the strength from his blood turned to burn ice.