Author's Notes
Song Lyrics from Halflives - Empty Room
/watch?v=Jq4ocISBA60
Additional Songs:
Imagine Dragons - Monster
/watch?v=hhSA9H9Iaqw&list=PLb-h0TgZRJZpYbnvq7gW1FBvsBMdCI_mZ&index=3
Against The Current - Gravity
/watch?v=6-IvfzRQYHI&list=PLb-h0TgZRJZpYbnvq7gW1FBvsBMdCI_mZ&index=4
Whole Playlist:
/playlist?list=PLb-h0TgZRJZooJ-TPIjxWEFoYEnXi2vcl
Luciana was running at full speed along the rainbow bridge. Normally one would cross the vast length on the back of a horse, but she had been in too much of a panic to think rationally when she had taken off. By now her lungs were already burning and she hadn't even covered half of the distance. But she couldn't afford to stop. Not with the knowledge of what was supposedly going on at the end of the bridge.
When the Bifrost had opened, even though he had explicitly forbidden it, Loki had immediately stormed off in a rage. He had not only frozen Heimdall with the Frost Giant's casket, but had also sent the Destroyer to Midgard in order to murder his brother. Moreover, he had let the Frost Giant's into Asgard, only to murder Laufey during the act of killing Odin. All to stage his own heroism to gain the Allfathers favor. However, the sudden return of his now repowered brother had foiled said plan. But instead of giving up, he instead had set off towards the Bifrost. Luciana, who had been powerless in her attempts to stop any of these things from happening, was sure that he was only moments away from making a horrible mistake. And so she had run off to follow Loki, as had his brother before her.
When she finally arrived at the end of the rainbow bridge, she almost fainted on the spot from both fatigue and lack of oxygen. The only thing that kept her standing was the image in front of her.
The Bifrost was open, relentlessly unleashing its power on the unfortunate planet it was currently connected to. Which could really only be one planet: Jotunheim.
Loki was set on destroying it.
"Why…" The young woman muttered as her eyes fell on the two brothers that were engaged in a full out fight right in front of the gate.
"Stop it! Both of you! Stop fighting each other!" she screamed from the top of her lungs.
"Stand back Lucy! It's dangerous here!" the older prince yelled at her as he took another swing with his hammer at his brother. Gritting her teeth the young woman turned towards the self proclaimed king instead. "Loki, why? Why are you doing this!?"
He laughed. "Why? You ask why Lucy? I'm doing this for us! For all of us, all of Asgard! And that includes you, Lucy!"
"Me?"
"Yes! After Jotunheim is gone we will never have to fear another attack by the Frost Giants! And you Lucy, you will never have to be scared of the big blue monsters again!"
"But- I am not!"
"What-"
"I'm not scared of the Frost Giants!" she cried out, desperation in her voice. "How could I ever fear them when my dearest friend is one of them!?"
It was only for a split second, but Luciana could tell from the way his eyes widened that he was surprised by her words. And for a single moment he slowed in his movements. One moment of hesitation, that was immediately exploited by Thor who threw Mjolnir once more, sending his distracted brother flying across the rainbow bridge, dangerously close to the abyss.
"He's gonna fall!" Or so Luciana thought as she and Thor ran towards him. But as it turned out it had only been an illusion. And soon they both found themselves surrounded by an army of Loki copies that were all laughing mockingly at the two of them.
"Enough of this brother!"
Clearly fed up with the other man's tricks, Thor quickly spun Mjolnir, channeling electricity before releasing it in a full circle, effectively blowing away all of his brother's copies, including the real one. The impact looked quite painful and against her better judgment, Luciana ran over to her friend's body, worried for his well being. "Loki! Are you alright!?"
"Urgh…" he groaned, clearly in pain.
"Stay where you are brother." Before the trickster god could even try to get up again, his brother placed Mjolnir on his body, rendering any of his attempts useless. But even in this position Loki still mocked the older prince, calling him helpless against the power of the Bifrost. He was sure that Thor wouldn't be able to close the gate, hence rendering him unable to stop the destruction of Jotunheim. However, he never expected what the God of Thunder attempted to do instead.
The image in front of him left him speechless, the image of his brother slamming Mjolnir relentlessly upon the rainbow bridge. Again. And again. And again.
Luciana could already see the cracks beginning to form and she felt her knees go weak as she began to grasp what exactly Thor intended to do. "He… He's going to destroy the bridge…" The young woman slumped down next to the defeated God of Mischief, who was finally free to push himself to sit up. He began shouting at his brother to stop this madness. But to no avail, even the mention of Jane Foster didn't make him stop in his tracks.
"Loki, it's useless. He's not gonna stop until he smashes the whole bridge into pieces."
Only now did the female voice next to him catch his intention and he turned his head towards the young woman. And suddenly his earlier rage didn't seem to matter anymore. His anger dissipated and was replaced by an entirely different emotion.
Dread.
Quickly he closed the distance between the two of them and took hold of the brunette's shoulders, staring right into her emerald green eyes.
"Lucy. You need to go!" he spoke with urgency.
"What?"
"The bridge will collapse. With us on it! Meaning we're about to fall into the abyss."
"Ah-"
"So, you need to go, no, you need to run! Run back to the castle where you're safe and-"
"But what about you? Thor can fly using Mjolnir, but you-"
"I don't matter. No one ever misses the monster after it gets defeated after all. You on the other hand, you're loved by all of Asgard. So, if anything happened to you-"
Hearing those words, Luciana felt anger rise up inside her. "Are you an idiot!?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"You're a monster? No one is gonna miss you? Is that what you think about yourself!?" she yelled in a reprimanding tone.
"Well…" he began, clearly startled by her sudden outburst. However, Luciana had no intention of letting him speak just yet.
"That's the dumbest shit that ever left your mouth! You're not a monster!"
He laughed, but it sounded hollow. "I'm pretty sure you were about to call me one earlier."
"I- What?"
"In the throne hall before the Bifrost activated you were saying I finally know who you are. You're- "
"Oh my god. You really are a complete fool. You want to know what I really wanted to say?"
"Well, I don't think right now is the right time for-"
Loki stopped mid-sentence as he felt a warm sensation on his cheek and he took in a sharp breath when he noticed that it came from Luciana's hand that was gently touching him. The suddenness of it rattled him and for once he turned silent.
"You're Loki, Prince of Asgard. My dearest friend, whom I could never see as a monster."
"Lucy…"
"And whom I would miss a whole lot if he crashed into the abyss together with this stupid bridge."
At that the second prince let out a chuckle. Not one of those condescending ones he had displayed earlier. No, it was one Luciana had heard hundredth of times before, albeit she had never been as happy as now to catch its familiar sound. And soon a warm smile was displayed on her lips.
That's when the shaking of the bridge reminded them of the situation they were in.
"Lucy, you really need to go." he tried again.
"Only if you promise me that you will return to the castle."
"Alright, I promise."
"Good. And you better don't dare to break that promise, or else I'll kill you with these hands myself!"
Seemingly satisfied with that, Luciana rose to her feet. For a moment she lingered, taking in the image of the Bifrost and the rainbow bridge as she knew them, and of Loki who was smiling at her from the ground. And then she turned around, darting off towards the castle.
Something about the trickster god's smile bothered her. It somehow had seemed… sad. And the farther she distanced herself from the two brothers the more unsettled she felt. Nevertheless, she never dared to look back.
I just want to scream, spit out my disease
Will this silence disappear?
"Where is he?" A simple question as Luciana thought. Yet neither Thor nor the Allfather seemed to be able to answer it. They both stood in front of the young woman in silence. "Thor, tell me. Where is he? Where is Loki?"
The blonde man stared into the pair of emerald green eyes that were fixed upon him. Her gaze was questioning, hopeful and almost pleading with him to tell her that his brother was right here. Yet he couldn't. "He… is gone."
Three words. Three simple words. And yet they had the power to change someone's world completely. For a second everything around Luciana went silent. So silent she wondered whether she had accidentally activated her powers. But she knew she hadn't. The only thing she could hear was Thor's strained voice. "The last thing he said…"
"Hm?"
"He said: Tell Lucy, I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise. "
That's a shame
I can't face this heartache
I have lost my way
Soon a grand fest was held in Asgard's castle, to celebrate the return of Thor and the reawakening of the Allfather. As she watched the Asgardians stuff themselves with food and get drunk on wine she wondered how they could party like that without a care in the world. As if nothing ever happened. As if they hadn't just lost their second prince.
"See who the real monsters are…" she mumbled.
"Don't be too hard on them, my dear. They don't know any different." The gentle voice of Asgard's queen rang out next to Luciana as Frigga stepped beside her.
"My queen… I am sorry for your loss."
"Don't my dear. It is our loss, is it not? I am not the only one bearing the pain."
"You are too kind, my queen." she uttered, a sad smile on her lips. For a while the two women stood next to each other without saying a word. After long moments it was Frigga that broke their silence.
"You know, I always thought I would welcome you as a child of mine in the future."
Luciana turned towards her, confusion in her emerald eyes. "A child of yours?"
"Mhm. You know I love my three men, but I can't deny that there aren't times where being the only woman in the family exhausts me. You see, sometimes I wondered what was taking that boy so long. To tell you a secret, I was actually set on approaching him about it after Thor had been pronounced king. But it never came to that… The last few nights I wondered a lot whether it would have changed anything."
At that moment Luciana realized what the queen was talking about. Suddenly a memory from the day of the alleged crowning ceremony flashed through her mind.
"Well, for once I am far from qualified as I'm not of noble blood. And second, I would much rather marry a Frost Giant than spend the rest of my life closely entangled with… this."
"Heh, well… I wasn't talking about Th-"
So, that's what you meant.
Luciana felt the tears rolling down her face. She was crying.
Only now she finally cried.
So I've locked the door and the key is gone
Now I know I can't escape
F I N