One - Soul
Asgardian Refugee Ship - Space
2018
When she came to, Sigyn found that she was surrounded by pure destruction.
And death.
The floor of the ship was littered in dead bodies, those of their fellow Asgardians. There had been a massacre.
"M-my gods," she whispered, her voice shaking. Loki pulled her close protectively.
A movement in the shadows made them jump and move to draw their weapons. But it was only Thor.
"Thor!" she gasped in relief. "Thank the gods! What happened?"
Thor stepped forward, bruised and cut himself. "Why don't you ask your dearly beloved?" Both looked at Loki. "Brother. Just couldn't help yourself, could you?"
"I-I don't understand-" Loki protested.
"Oh I think you do. The Tesseract."
"And, what about it?"
A blast of lightning sent from Thor's hand struck Loki and sent him crashing back into the wall, collapsing to the floor.
"Stop! Thor stop! Please - STOP!" Sigyn jumped between them. This wasn't the first time she had had to do this, as she had done so many times over the years growing up with the brothers. But it had come to this, once again. Only this time, this was something entirely different. "Yes, yes, we have the Cube."
Thor stared at her, astounded. "You knew?"
"Yes, I was there. We took it from Odin's Vault when we took Surtur's Crown to the Eternal Flame. How else could we have escaped Ragnarok? And Loki made a point, Thor: can you imagine the damage it would have done had it been on Asgard when it was destroyed?"
"You know how much damage it caused before. And now you've doomed us all!" Thor roared.
"Who did this?" Sigyn cried.
"I don't know."
"I think I might," admitted Loki.
Suddenly, there was a rumble, and everything went dark.
When Thor came to, he found himself lying amongst the dead bodies. He staggered to his feet. What had happened?
Loki and Sigyn. They were gone.
With every dead face he saw, stepping over the clusters of lifeless bodies, Thor feared he would see theirs. But each time he didn't, it gave him a brief strike of hope that they may still be alive, spared by whoever had attacked them.
The trail of the dead led him to the main cabin where he stopped and stared.
A great purple-skinned giant in gold armour stood there. Loki stood before him, appearing tiny himself, speaking to the giant. Thor froze.
"Mighty Titan, if you are going to Earth, you may want a guide. I have some experience in that field."
'Titan' was an appropriate description of the giant, Thanos. He eyed the God of Mischief, his expression unreadable. "If you consider failure experience." His voice was deep and chilling.
"I consider experience experience," Loki stated firmly. He dipped low in a bow. "All-mighty Thanos, I, Loki of Jotunheim, Prince of Asgard, Odinson... In exchange for sparing these innocent Asgardians, I swear to you my undying fidelity, and surrender the Space Stone to you."
"Loki, what have you done?" cried Thor.
Loki ignored him. A blue glow shone as he produced the Tesseract. "Spare them, and it is yours. Do we have a deal?"
Thanos regarded him. "The stone first."
"No, your word."
"Which do you think is of more value?"
"To me? Or to you?"
There was silence, each waiting for the other to give what they owed.
Thanos activated the Power Stone. Thor was suddenly engulfed by debris, like restraints.
"The Stone first."
Loki hesitated, but handed over the Stone.
A grin that could only be described as evil split across Thanos's face. "You're weak. I should have seen it before." Suddenly, Loki was grabbed by two of the Titan's soldiers. "I don't bargain."
It happened so fast - Thanos activated the Power Stone once again, and the purple energy forged into a long, glowing blade, which was then plunged straight through Loki's chest.
"NO!" Thor's cries were muffled by the restraints.
"Undying?" chuckled Thanos. "You really should choose your words more carefully. 'Undying'. How ironic."
"NO!"
Another cry echoed throughout the ship, but this time not from Thor.
Thor turned at the sound of his brother's voice. But that was impossible - Loki was before him, he had been stabbed...
Suddenly, he realized. "No..."
There was a flash of blue and gold and the injured Loki faded away - an illusion - Sigyn taking his place. She collapsed in a heap at Thanos's feet. "Go to Hel, monster," she spat.
"SIGYN NO!" Tears streamed down Loki's face and a yell ripped from his throat as he charged towards the Titan, daggers drawn.
But Thanos merely opened up a portal with the newly-obtained Space Stone and transported himself and his soldiers away.
Loki threw down his daggers, dropping to his knees at Sigyn's side. Thor's restraints had fallen away and he rushed to his injured friend's side as well.
"Sigyn, Sig, look at me, look at me-" Loki rambled.
"Sigyn, it's alright, we're here," Thor assured her.
"Why did you do that?" Loki cried, but she was unable to answer.
"You were very brave, my friend. We will tell tales of your sacrifice for millennia to come," Thor told her.
"Stop talking like she's going to die!" Loki yelled. But one look from his brother told him the inevitable: she was dying. Both knew she was.
She took one of their hands in her own. "Work t-together - you're brothers... All will be well..." Her eyelids fluttered closed.
"Sig, Sigyn, no. No, please, I-I love you..." Loki's words were engulfed by a heavy sob.
Thor reached out to place a supportive hand on his brother's shoulder; Loki just shoved him off, appearing angry before the anger faded into complete and utter sadness.
Thor held Loki as he collapsed into a sobbing heap while their friend joined the other victims of Thanos in Valhalla.
Sorry for the delay in adding the first chapter - I decided to connect my new Tony love story to these stories, so I had to go back and add my OC into my 'Infinity War' and 'Endgame' stories.
But now here we are - off to a sad start :( Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)
