Author's note: Hi everyone!
Hope you're enjoying my story so far.
Just a warning that this chapter is pretty confusing and trippy! It was pretty weird to write.
Anyway, if you like the story so far please leave a review! If you don't like something but you've read this far please leave a review to let me know what I can do better :)
Chapter 9
The world was warped and colourful, bright and strangely sharp. As in, the colours were actually piercing his eyes like needles. Oh God, what was that red stuff everywhere? How did that get there? It was all over him! It was… everywhere. He was sinking, drowning.
Loki thrashed his limbs against the red tide but it pulled him down, the thick metallic stickiness filling his mouth, his nose, his ears and his eyes.
What the hell was even happening? How did he get here? And what was that…? Something was crawling beneath his skin. Everywhere. His imagination conjured insects, scorpions perhaps, writhing to escape his flesh. How did they get in there? But what tore itself from his body was… himself. A million Lokis, of action figure size peeled away from his skin. They turned in unison to stare at him, but they had no eyes, only empty pits where eyes should be and as one they screamed an unearthly high pitched scream. Loki joined them.
A light flashed above his head, something green. A tree? He struggled to think, to move, to understand something, but the light blinded and deafened him. He tried to yell, to scream, but something was pressed tightly against his mouth so he couldn't make a noise. His body tensed under his command but could not move. The noise of the light overcame him and his eyes rolled back into his head.
Back and back and back he was spinning. Spinning, spinning, faster, faster. Shapes were forming around him, pulling, poking, whispering, shrieking. He gritted his teeth and tried to block them out but when he closed his eyes they were still there, as though his eyes were still open. They tore at him frantically, pulling off bits and pieces of his being, though he wasn't sure quite what.
A loud noise. He was back under that tree. He frowned. A repeat? Nothing else had been repeated. Perhaps it was a message. There was a sweet smell… honey? The light was burning him this time, rather than deafening, but that was more expected wasn't it? He wasn't sure.
It was still overwhelming and the shape of the tree above him eventually disintegrated into shards of glass, coated in something thick, black and noxious looking. They hovered in the space above him threateningly, but they didn't fall so he just lay and watched them hang there. He was suddenly aware of his breathing – quick, short, ragged, gasping. He swallowed and made an effort to slow it. It was working, slowly. As his breathing slowed, he became aware of a heartbeat – fast and shallow. The beat was matched by a steady dripping sound around him. The black sludge was raining off the shards of glass, and what was underneath shone so bright he almost couldn't bear it. He reached up to touch – he couldn't help it, it was so beautiful – but couldn't quite reach…
The glass parted to make a pattern, a shape. The tree. He clung to this image like a life raft. That tree again, he needed to go to that tree. It got closer. A face. He knew that face. Fey? He tried to say, but something was still obscuring his mouth. He shifted a bit, but could feel the bite of rope around his torso, ankles and wrists. He frowned.
A strange sensation passed over him. What was that? It took him a while, then he realised it was noise. She was speaking. What was she saying…?
"…hey! Loki, come on. Stay awake. Can you hear me? Nod or something. Come on, you're almost there, don't go back to sleep.."
Nod? He could do that, he thought. He sluggishly located his head, his neck muscles, and moved them in what would do for now as a rough approximation at a nod.
There was a pause in her frantic ramblings. "A nod? Was that a nod? Can you do it again?"
He frowned at the effort, but managed to do it again.
She laughed giddily. "And a frown too. You really are here! Hold on sorry, I'll just take off the gag."
He located his eyebrow and managed to raise it at that. The pressure on his mouth came away and he spluttered, his mouth dry and raw.
A bowl of cool water was raised to his mouth and a small amount dropped in. He forced his throat to swallow convulsively, suddenly parched.
"Not too much, yet." The bowl was taken away. An odd noise escaped his throat that could have been a cross between a whine and a growl, except that the God of Mischief didn't make such noises.
The pressure on his chest loosened as the ropes were removed, followed by the ones on his arms and legs. He considered trying to get his body to move to a sitting position, but decided against any such movement until the colourful edges to his vision disappeared at the very least. Maybe he should try talking.
"..uueah?" He got out. Huh. Yeah that didn't really sound like what he was trying to say, even to him.
He tried again. "…where?" That was better.
The face appeared in front of his again. "Um… I'm not entirely sure. I was kinda hoping you'd eventually be able to tell me. I haven't been off Asgard before so…"
So, not on Asgard then. "…how?"
"You got a bit… trapped, somewhere between Asgard and here."
He nodded slightly. Sounded familiar. Something to do with shadows and lots of loud grating voices.
"…So, I got you out." She turned away, suddenly very interested in whatever she had beside her.
Loki felt suspicion coil inside him. "How?" He managed a half-convincing growl.
She looked back, her expression carefully blank. "I kinda… intercepted you with the Bifrost…"
Oh. Okay. Sure. "WHAT?!"
Ouch, okay. Yelling is a no. But seriously, what the heck?
"Shh, you need to take it easy. I took you out of there, but they did something to you and you were fitting and screaming like crazy. I tied you up and gagged you for your own safety, and because I actually have no idea where we are and whether or not we're meant to be here. Didn't really want your screaming alerting the entire realm of our presence if it was unwelcome."
But… Bifrost… shadows… what? "How long… was I…?"
Concern crept into her face. "The days here feel a bit shorter than ours, but it's been about two and a half of this planet's days. There were times you stopped thrashing about for a bit and almost seemed awake, but then you'd be gone again. I didn't bring much with me but I tried every balm and ointment I know…"
He could still smell the honey. He sighed, then coughed in pain. Ugh. He was in this girl's debt again. But he was, admittedly, alive, so that was okay for now. Also very tired. He'd get more answers tomorrow.
This time when he closed his eyes, only the faintest sparks of colours remained at the edges, and they seemed to be retreating. He relaxed and gratefully let unconsciousness wash over him.
