"The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,
And arbitrary blackness gallops in:
I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead."
- Sylvia Plath, Mad Girl's Love Song (1953)
Escape is near for their ragtag crew of prisoners, fighters, thieves, and gods. However, obtaining the trust and cooperation of the God of Mischief is a farce on its own. Standing at a stalemate between freedom from the world known as Sakaar is Loki, grinning as the madman tales have told he was. His first affront to them is despicable - a mind game that momentarily traps Diana and halts her attack. Whispers and caresses of dreams and promises tempt to steal her sanIty away but her will is strong. Far stronger than Loki's games and illusions, lies and -
what could have been.
The haze in her eyes dissipates and she pushes his face away from hers. "Leave me alone."
"Loki -" Thor warns from across the room.
His green-clad brother holds up a hand as he gives her some space. She suspects Loki was after more than her temporary subjugation.
"Listen, for one second, Diana, you are like us," he speaks, pacing the floor in front of her. "And like calls to like - despite you being a lesser god, but my sweetheart, there is something about me that repulses you more than what the usual mention of my name would trigger." He eyes her evenly.
"I am beyond ignorance, young god, so tell me," he repeats, stopping in front of her once again. ""What are you running from?"
"You almost destroyed the earth," Diana finally grinds out.
"On more than one occasion, dearest, so forgive me if you need to jog my memory as to which event you are speaking about." Loki smiles
(More? Thor repeats from the side, but is ignored by both of them.)
"1984 -"
"Less specifics, more details," Loki crosses his arms. Their encounter with their forgotten sister, Hela, has vanquished all but a morsel of his patience.
"Wishes," Diana adds. "Because of an item you made, everyone was making wishes and not realizing the consequences of their desires. The world was being torn apart by greed, and you fueled it. Demanded it." Diana elaborates, chest temporarily tightening at the memory of what she had greedily participated in - regretfully lost.
"Ha," Loki chuckles and bends down again to be at eye level with her. There is not but a breath's distance between them, but the heat radiating from Diana could not be mistaken for anything else but anger. Loki smirks as he eases back a little; his origins providing immunity to the evident hatred in her eyes. "Dearest Diana, you misread me. That was made by a lesser being, Dolos, I believe," he explains, knowing his words do nothing to assuage her turmoil.
"Either way, the only thing infinite beyond the universe is the greed of your beloved humankind, and while I would be unphased by their demise - what can a dead world do for me?" Loki shrugs, resuming his pacing. "Dolos' goals were shortsighted. Mine are not. Know your gods better, sweetheart, before you make more erroneous accusations." He turns to affix her a firm look.
Red colors her cheeks at the correction, but she bites down any thought of apologies.
Again, Loki laughs and pats her head. She slaps his hand away, but the action is done, and in that rare moment, Diana feels small.
"That aside, let's focus on saving your world again." He steps away.
"Diana -" Thor approaches, finding the footing to intervene again.
She shakes her head and forces her fists to open. She stares at the God of Mischief before her - qualms and memories aside - she has forgiven before. But as he meets her gaze once again, they both realize that she can't just quite do that right now.
She has been a martyr before.
He has been a pawn not too long ago.
This is a game that neither of them would win, but as Loki throws her one last indecipherable look, he all but neglects her presence again and shoots towards the controls. Thor is faster, prepared. Familiar with his brother's antics, he activates a device that effectively shocks him in place and forces him to fall. Quickly, Thor steps back up to Diana's side and with a brush of his hand, they both walk past Loki and towards the craft, promising them freedom from Sakaar.
"I am disappointed brother," Thor finally says as Diana enters the ship. "Here I had thought you had grown, matured -"
Dark, angry eyes meet his gaze and Thor shakes his head. "We will save Asgard without you, brother."
And they do, save Asgard.
Against all odds, they defeat Hela and escape Ragnarok by initiating it. Fire and lava flows from once pearlescent lakes, and Thor and Loki stand at the helm of the ship carrying the last of their kind, the Asgardians. They stand, perhaps, in the solace of one another as the only home they know of is essentially destroyed by their hands.
But peace is a fleeting thing, especially in the presence of the Avengers, she has learned. And sanctuary does not exist for either her and these people.
She only has to blink before their ship is reduced to rubble and her ears ring with shock. Belatedly, she realizes there are flames licking at her arms -metal burying her legs, and glassed eyes of those that she had just saved and celebrated with, staring vacantly back at her.
She should be a veteran with loss, a warbringer and scythe of Death, as no tears could muster themselves to her eyelids at the sight of chaos and desolation surrounding her. Again.
"Princess."
She had been briefly introduced to Heimdall - the keeper of the Bi-Frost and a longtime friend of the Odinson brothers. He too, had been a savior to the bodies around them. She blinks, and grimaces at the dagger piercing his abdomen. She does not recall that ever being there, but at the same time, she does not recall the sounds of rejoicing and salvation ever ending.
She tries to force the question to form on her lips, but he shakes her head and cuts her off.
The ringing in her ears isn't as loud as before, and dimly, she registers the presence of other beings, other monsters, gathering around them.
Beyond the massive violet hulk, she thinks she sees Earth.
"...I know what it's like to lose. To feel so desperately that you're right, yet to fail nonetheless. " Her vision improves, and she finds that the violet hulk is not Banner debuting a new color, but a stranger, with an arresting grip on Thor. She moves to remove the debris on her, but is halted by Heimdall again.
"-frightening. Turns the legs to jelly," he pauses. "And I ask you, to what end again?" His beady eyes cast a look at the wreckage around them, misplaced regret reassessing the corpses that had previously praised their group. "Dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same. And now it is here," he drops Thor. "I am here."
Thor grunts from his knees. "You talk too much," he spits out.
The newcomer smiles. "And so does he," he inclines his head towards Loki - the only person in the group that looks as battered as he was from the fight with Hela. Nothing more. Nothing is as worse as her or Thor or Heimdall.
Diana's stomach turns in on itself as the stranger addresses him. "The Tesseract, or your brother's head. I assume you have a preference now," he offers.
Loki's back it to her, but there is no pause in his answer.
Their new opposition cradles Thor's head in his hands - he screams, and it takes all her willpower not to help. As useless as she might be from countless of days of fighting and unrest - she would not lose another friend.
Fortunately, Loki calls the torture to a halt just as Thor too, denies the presence of the Tesseract.
And then unfortunately, Loki reveals it with a quick flash of his magic.
Both of them curse him, both loudly and quietly.
"I assure you, brother. The sun will shine on us again," Loki merely replies to Thor's disgruntlement.
"To which I say that your optimism is misplaced."
Diana begins to shuffle a little in her place, noting that their time is ticking. The moment Loki relieves the Tesseract to this foe, the less chance they had getting off the remnants of the ship. "Heimdall," she winces as wounds she had yet to register rub against the floor.
The gatekeeper assesses her, and she sees the decision occur as Banner tosses his last surprise attack away; he disappears with the last of Heimdall's powers as Thanos silences him with one last puncture through the heart.
Too close, he is too close - and Diana is far too weak. She hopes with all her cowardly might that he does not notice her.
A little luck grants her wish at the cost of their opponent crushing the Tesseract and retrieving the stone hidden inside its depths.
"My humble parsonage," one of the aliens accompanying him bows his head. "Kneel before your grandeur. No other being has ever had the might, nor the nobility to wield not one, but two Infinity Stones."
The giant's lips flash a quick smirk. "There are two more Stones on Earth," he states, placing the freed stone into a gauntlet. "Find them, my children - and bring them to me on Titan."
Another alien emerges from the shadows. "We will not fail you -"
"If I may interject," Loki's back is still towards her. "I have been to Earth before, and could provide you a guide with my experience."
"You failed," the wielder of the two stones points out.
"I consider experience, experience," Loki deflects. "Almighty Thanos, I, Loki, Prince of Asgard," he begins to step towards the named wielder, Thanos. "Odinson, the rightful King of Jotunheim, God of Mischief, do hereby pledge to you, my undying fidelity." He stops only a few paces away from Thanos, back slightly bowed - and - Diana pushes herself to sit up in time to see a dagger materialize behind his back.
She knows the end of this play.
"Undying.." Thanos mutters loud enough for her to hear.
Their eyes meet.
Loki's dagger misses his target, but Diana's lasso does not and she manages to pull the trickster away from Thano's grasp. He lands on his back and by her side. "Diana!" both brothers exclaim.
"Stupid, you're both so stupid," she grits her teeth as the remaining aliens reveal themselves from the shadows. They converge on her and hide their leader and Thor from her view.
It is her turn to put her cards on the table, but she is afraid that the hand she is dealt with will not be enough to save everyone. Yet she is so tired. So tired of death and loss and fighting.
"Father," one of the female aliens take a step closer to them.
Loki rises to his feet first, and Diana, too tired, can't even acknowledge the martyr he is offering to become by stepping in front of her. Again, his daggers appear in both his hands. But the time for swordplay and tricks is over.
She joins his side, beaten but standing. Through the crowd of enemies, she catches Thor's gaze: a final stand.
The blond god furiously shakes his head. "No," he first quietly mutters. "No, no, nononon-"
"The grace of a woman shines upon you," Thanos rumbles. "But the time for games is done."
Diana can still hear Thor's thrumming denial. She wants to apologize, but the female alien is already at her side - her gauntlet barely raised up in time to halt the blade pressing down towards her face.
Towered and most likely to be overpowered, she allows Loki to push back at the woman with a swipe of his dagger as she rolls over his back to deflect another foe's blow; both her gauntlets creak at the force of the offending axe.
"Defeat is inevitable," Thanos continues to drone. "Your end has come."
She and Loki are not a trained pair, but their brief time together, fighting side-by-side is enough to allow them to dance and make up for each other's weaknesses and blind spots. Yet they are both fatigued, and this is a song they cannot finish or carry on for too long.
However, another opponent jumps into the fight and effectively splits them apart. Without Loki to protect her back, to make up for her lack in speed - one of the aliens manages to land a blow on her head and another sends her reeling into space.
"Diana!"
She cannot hold onto consciousness; would she be lost to the black sea?
Anguish rings through the air, clear even in the muddled ripples of space.
Tired.
She is so tired - but she has fought for much longer and with much less help than before. Through heavy eyelids, she sees the inevitable wink of Loki's light dissipate before pieces of the wreckage intercept her drift through space and catch her. She shouldn't let herself amiss here, she knows, but despite her efforts her eyes close and the world with it disappears again.
- End Interlude -
