Chapter Ten: Marked
Loki was tied down to a stone table. He tried to lift his head, but a hand pushed him back down.
It has been around a week since he had landed in Thanos' Sanctuary; a week of Thanos asking for Loki's help to collect the Infinity Stones. Of course, Loki had refused, and normally the Titan would become frustrated and leave him alone for the rest of the day, but Loki knew that the Titan's patience was wearing thin.
It came as no surprise that Thanos increased his hostility toward the young Asgardian with each refusal, but Loki was still slightly shocked to find himself tied down, spread-eagle, on a stone table.
He tried to loosen his bindings but found no give. He could sense other creatures milling around him. At first, Loki thought the aliens, the Chitauri, were ugly. As the days passed, Loki learned not to anger them or do anything that would cause them to go scrambling to their master in order to have Thanos himself come and investigate the problem.
Loki had started to hate the purple alien. He was lucky, to say the least, to end up with only a few bruises from the punches and slaps that Thanos had inflicted on him.
That was it. Just slaps and an odd punch or kick, nothing else. Thanos never tried anything too harsh; his bruises always healed. So why was he tied down in an unfamiliar room?
Loki got his answer soon enough. Footsteps approached the table, and an ugly face peered into Loki's. The alien was holding what looked like a needle attached to a small tube.
The alien stood over Loki and pressed the tip of the needle to Loki's chest, right above the heart.
On instinct, Loki tried to move away, but the needle breached his skin. He flinched at the small poke and watched as black ink dripped out of the needle and right into his skin.
A tattoo? Loki had heard of mortals getting tattoos, and few Asgardians had one, but he never even thought about getting one himself.
The Chitauri alien kept moving the needle around the left side of Loki's chest. The ink left a pattern of geometrical shapes, swirls, and some letters of an ancient language.
It took a few hours before the tattoo was done. The tattoo completely covered the left side of his chest and looped around to the top of his left shoulder and arm. A circle with a smaller circle inside covered the top of his arm. Four smaller circles connected by an X, which met in the middle of the smallest circle. A square box in the X and circles. Ancient letters adorned the outside on each side of the square. The design, Loki later found out, was called the "Mark of Thanos."
The alien backed off, only to be replaced by another, purple alien.
Loki felt himself being lifted to a sitting position, the chains never leaving his wrists.
Thanos was standing in front of him, a twisted smile on his face. Loki fought the urge to struggle against the chains.
"What was that for?" Loki demanded, clearly referring to his new tattoo.
"Since you are stuck here, and one way or another you will follow my orders, I gave you my 'Mark.' All of my servants and followers have one; it's only fair that you get one too," Thanos explained.
"What if I don't want to listen to you?" Loki spat out.
"You will, eventually."
A shaky laugh escaped Loki's lips. "I am not one of your followers."
"Not yet, anyway. Besides, I gave you something special." Thanos motioned toward Loki's stomach. Loki looked down and found another, smaller, tattoo. The black tip of a thin triangle pointed up, just below his belly button; the rest disappearing beneath the waistband of his pants.
"I gave that to you when you were asleep. The tattoo on your chest is a mark of servitude. The other one is special. Only a select few have it. You were just too wonderful to pass up on. The tattoo is a symbol of my own, personal slaves. I keep them for...entertainment."
Loki swallowed.
"We are connected through the 'Mark,':" Thanos continued. "I can see where you are at and read your thoughts. It can disappear, only to reappear when I call on you. There's no way to trick me out of my Infinity Stones."
Tears formed at the corners of Loki's eyes. He was stuck. There was no way out of this. He was bound to serve Thanos, willingly or not.
"Now, shall we begin our fun for today?" Thanos asked. Four Chitauri aliens stepped up to the table, each standing at a corner. "My offer of power and safety in return for the Infinity Stones still stands. Are you sure you want to refuse that?"
"Yes," Loki said stubbornly.
"I knew you were going to say that," Thanos grumbled to himself. To Loki, he said: "I gave you shelter and food, for what? Cold, hard refusal!"
"You plan to wipe out half the universe with the Stones! What else did you expect?" Loki shot back.
Thanos was inches away from Loki's face in one, long stride. "Do not bite the hand that feeds you," Thanos quoted.
Loki glared in response. "What is my life in comparison to all of those going to be murdered by you?"
A sharp slap to the cheek shocked Loki into silence. Thanos turned away from his prisoner, his hands clasped behind his back.
"My patience wears thin. I tire of waiting for your answer to change."
Loki spat out a mouthful of blood. "Why don't you ask one of your many 'followers' to help you instead?" Loki couldn't keep the snark out of his voice.
Thanos was back at his side. The Titan trailed a finger over Loki's tattoo. "I could, but you have power, immense power. That, mixed with your cunning and wit, could win wars. You could bring me the Stones without breaking a sweat. I could also collect the Stones myself, but you are disposable. I'd rather lose a powerful ally than lose my own life."
Loki gritted his teeth and pulled away from Thanos' touch. "I'm flattered that you think I'm powerful, but my answer is still no."
"I don't understand why you were not crowned king. Asgard needs a powerful leader. Too bad your idiotic brother is going to be king, not you," Thanos said, switching tactics.
"If you are trying to make me feel upset because I wasn't king, it's not working. I never wanted the throne; Thor just wasn't ready for it."
Anger flashed in Thanos' cold, black eyes. "You will be a tough one to break. It will be enjoyable, no doubt, but everyone has a breaking point. You will beg for mercy after I'm through with you. You will long for death, beg for it. This will be the last time you will ever be safe from my wrath. Here on out, there is no life for you other than pain."
"Loki! Loki, wake up!" Sigyn's voice pierced into Loki's dream. He sat up and looked around. He was back in the room he shared with Sigyn, but the sky was bright, not dark.
"You were shaking and mumbling in your sleep," Sigyn said. "Are your nightmares getting worse?"
"They seem to be more vivid. I can feel physical pain," Loki answered.
Sigyn blinked. "You can feel physical pain?"
Loki nodded.
"Loki, that's not normal! Why didn't you tell me?" Sigyn exclaimed.
"I didn't want you to worry. I thought it would go away, but it's getting worse."
Sigyn suddenly grabbed hold of Loki's left arm. She ran a hand gently over it. His skin was bright red where his tattoo was, but the black ink wasn't visible.
"What?" Sigyn gasped. "How?"
Loki gently pried his arm away. He absentmindedly rubbed his shoulder. "I don't know," he lied.
"I'll figure it out later, right now you need to eat," Sigyn said. "You must be starving."
"What time is it?" Loki asked and stood up.
"Nearly noon. You went asleep right after you came back from Wakanda."
"I'm not hungry," Loki muttered and shuffled his way toward the bathroom.
Sigyn placed her hands on her hips. "Loki, you used a lot of energy to visit Wakanda. You need to get it back if we are to take down Thanos. Even...even the dead need to eat and sleep," Sigyn scolded.
Loki stopped, his hand resting on the door to the bathroom. He turned to look at Sigyn.
"Fine."
"Good. Get dressed." Sigyn spun on her heel and strode out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Loki rubbed his shoulder again and looked in the mirror. The redness was fading, but the faint sting of getting a new tattoo was still there.
Loki sighed and changed into a loose-fitting pair of his clothes. He combed his hair quickly and went to join Sigyn in the palace's dining room.
Sigyn was accompanied by Sleipnir, Jormungandr, Fenris, Hela, and a white-blonde-haired man. They were standing near the center table, tense and nervous.
"I'll be fine," Hela was saying. "It'll be tough, but I can handle it."
"Are you sure that you want to go alone? It's dangerous. It will be safer having backup," Sleipnir said.
Hela smiled at her oldest brother, but she was clearly tired of hearing about how dangerous entering the Soul Stone was.
Loki gave her an encouraging smile and sat down on a chair. He picked an apple and watched the group argue.
"I know how dangerous it is, but having more than one Asgardian in the Stone is more risky. Thanos trusts me. How will he respond if I came with you or anyone else?" Hela questioned. "Besides, you need to be here for our plan to work."
Fenris raised his hand. "How are you going to enter the stone?" he asked.
"A portal and a little bit of dark magic. It'll be too risky to keep it open, so we'll have to close the portal and reopen it once I found all the souls. It will be tough and tiring, but we can't keep the portal open because Thanos might notice and trap us in there," Hela explained. "Remember, I'm going to rescue the innocent civilians first. You need to stay here to open the Gates of Valhalla and let them rest here until this entire 'Thanos business is done. I'll have to rescue the Avengers and Guardians who are trapped in the Stone after that."
"After that, we're going to attack Thanos at his home, right?" Fenris asked.
"Yes. We will let the civilians go back to the Land of the Living once Thanos is taken care of." Hela turned to the white-blonde-haired man. "Pietro, you are in charge of everything until I get back. Vincent will help if you have any questions. We will only open the Gates if we need an army or something."
"Got it," the dead Avenger, Pietro Maximoff, said.
"Wait for my word, and then we will attack Thanos," Hela ordered.
Everyone nodded. Hela stepped forward, facing the giant, double doors of the dining room. Sleipnir closed his eyes and stretched both hands toward the doors. Navy blue static sparked off his hands and shot forward. The magic outlined the doors and filled the opening with white-blue light which pulsed and rippled.
"Dad," Hela said.
Loki stood up and placed a hand on Hela's shoulder. Sleipnir copied him and kept his free hand raised. Loki squinted and raised his left hand. Green magic joined the blue light, the two colors mixed and swirled into a circle. The circle opened and a sandy landscape could be seen on the other end of the portal.
"Be careful," Pietro called from behind Hela.
"I will, cutie," Hela replied.
Loki reached in front of Hela and placed his hand flat against Sleipnir's.
"If it gets too dangerous, come straight back," Loki said and bent to whisper in Hela's ear. Hela nodded in response.
"On three. One. Two. Three!" Loki shouted.
Immediately Loki pulled his hand away from Sleipnir, breaking the energy circle. The released energy pulled Hela forward into the portal and closed in a flurry of green and blue sparks.
Sigyn rushed to catch Loki before he collapsed.
"We only have to do that a few more times," Loki muttered and allowed himself to be led to a chair.
Sleipnir was looking paler than usual. "Who knew that opening a portal into an Infinity Stone would be that hard?"
Everyone nodded.
"Rest up and eat. You need your strength back," Sigyn told Sleipnir and Loki. She took a seat next to Loki. Fenris and Pietro sat down too.
Jormungandr, however, remained standing. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at Pietro.
"Is anyone else concerned that Hela called Pietro 'cutie?'" he asked.
Fenris looked up. "Jormungandr, they've been dating since Pietro died."
"But he's older than her!"
"Hela is technically younger, yes, but at the same time, she's hundreds of years older than him. Plus, he's dead. He can't age," Fenris pointed out.
"He's human!" Jormungandr protested.
"And he's right here and can hear you," Pietro said. "Your dad is fine with me dating his daughter."
"She's a little young yet, but you are a good man. I trust you," Loki added in Pietro's defense.
"If you break her heart, I will break your face," Jormungandr threatened.
"Stop threatening people, Jormungandr," Sigyn scolded.
Jormungandr huffed angrily and sat down.
"Does everyone understand what you have to do?" Sigyn asked.
The group nodded.
"Good. Thanos won't know what hit him."
To clarify, Pietro and Hela are dating. Pietro is dead but I felt like he could have done more in the MCU. I just imagined them as a couple, and here we are! Feel free to read more about how they met in my story 'Til Death Do Us Meet.