Revised and Re-posted on 20/06/2013
Disclaimer: I only own my OC. Any other characters belong to their respective owners.
Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.
― Carl Bard
Chapter Two: Tesseract
The blood dripped down her abdomen and ran in rivulets down her face. Thunder screamed above her and rain clouds swirled as lightening lit up the sky. The wind tore past her, whipping her dark hair into her face. Her once-white gown was stained with dirt and blood and ripped in far too many placed to be considered decent and proper. But she ignored this all as she ran faster, her limbs burning with crimson fire in protest. Her feet pounded against the slippery ground, much like her heart. They sunk into the soil with every step from the rain, splattering her legs with mud. Her feet were bare and every so often, the odd stone would cut into cut into the soles of her feet or slip on the wet grass below her.
'Don't stop running. Don't stop. Whatever you do, keep running.' her mind chanted like some kind of mantra, like it was some sort of spell that would help her. But she was no fool; no silly cluster of nonsensical words would help her now.
"Kaehra." A bone-chilling voice cut through the night, completely silent besides her heavy breathing and occasional sob. "Kaehra, my sweet, darling Kaehra, you've been causing trouble again, have you not?" The voice chastised.
Tears streamed down her face and she ran even faster than before, if that were possible. All thoughts were wiped from her mind as it was consumed by an inescapable terror. It coursed through her veins and gripped her soul. 'Perhaps this is what death feels like.' The thought cut through her brain like a hot knife through butter. The fear was palpable as it danced on her tongue and threatened to freeze her body. But she couldn't. To stop would be to die, and she couldn't die. Not yet, not like this.
Her feet stumbled over the roots of an unseen plant, most likely a tree, and she fell, her body falling into the mud gracelessly. 'No, no, no. Not now. Please, no.' Her fingers scrabbled at the ground, trying to crawl away and pull herself to her feet but her fingers grasped nothing as the unforgiving ground tore the skin and nail, leaving them bloodied and numb. The exhaustion of the entire night hit her like a rampaging Bilgesnipe and her limbs felt heavy and dull. The adrenaline had left her in a rush and she was left a weak, quivering, exhausted mess.
She could hear footsteps now, slow and deliberate; he was taking his time with her, letting her feel the fear and hopelessness of the night. Was it night now? She hadn't bothered to look up at the sky to see and her eyes were clouded with emotion. It was dark now and she could barely see the hands shaking in front of her face, so perhaps it was nighttime. Odd. She was sure it had been around mid-afternoon the time she had left her home.
"Kaehra, it's not polite to run." That smooth, lilting tenor that some women of the court found so very attractive drifted through the night. It sent shivers down her spine for a very different reason. The voice was close now, so close she could almost feel his breath against her face whispering the words into her ear.
She scuttled back like one of those Misgardian sea creatures on her hands and feet, trying to get away. She faced the direction the voice came from, her eyes frantically searching the night but seeing nothing besides pitch black.
Her back hit something hard and jagged: a boulder of some kind. The pointed edges dug into her back, providing a temporary escape from the fear that ensnared her mind. The footsteps grew closer, louder. The fear crawled back into her mind.
Then the footsteps stopped.
"Did you really think you could get away from me?" The voice called in that lilting tenor she had quickly grown to hate. Her eyes, misty with tears, slowly looked in front of her but not daring to look up. A pair of leather boots covered in dirt and blood filled her vision. A pair that wasn't hers. A pair of boots she knew so very well.
She couldn't breathe.
She couldn't think.
She couldn't feel.
Her heart pounded so hard it hurt and her limbs trembled. A strong hand grabbed her chin, bruising the soft, tender flesh there. The fingers yanked her head upwards. There was blood under his fingernails and dried in the creases of his palm "Look at me." She obeyed, albeit reluctantly. His indigo eyes were glazed over and filled with madness. A crooked grin was plastered to his face. His unruly, chocolate hair fell in front of his face but he made no move to brush it away. The silver hoops in his ears glinted, as if mocking her and the ring he wore dug into the flesh of her jaw.
"Kaehra, it's not polite to glare." He sneered, the demented smile still present.
She said nothing, only grimacing as the blood on her forehead dripped into her eyes, stinging with fiery persistence. He removed his hand and turned his back to her.
"Do you know why I have done this?"
"No. You tell me nothing."
"Then I shall tell you."
Her eyes widened slightly and she pressed her back even farther into the stone. His hands were raised in a gesture of mock-surrender before he reached into the folds of his cloak and pulling out an object hastily wrapped in cloth. He looked at her briefly, grinning maniacally and unwrapped the parcel.
Kaehra gasped. In his hands was a glowing cube, pulsing with an ethereal blue light. It was mesmerizing to watch the way the lights danced beneath the cube's surface, constantly expanding and contracting, but it made her shiver.
"Severan, what have you done?" She whispered.
Pieces in Kaehra's mind slowly clicked together as her vision cleared. After visiting Loki, she had wandered around the metal halls of the Hellicarrier, just daydreaming and reminiscing. That was how she had come by this room, a laboratory, with dull gray walls and enormous windows that overlooked the rest of the screens and computers covered the surfaces and hung from the ceiling, attached to mechanical arms.
Directly in front of her was what had caught her eye, though. An intricate diagram and several lines of text, along with complex calculations and detailed descriptions covered the screen of an enormous computer. She knew the object the screen was displaying immediately; she would have recognized that glowing blue cube anywhere.
Asgard.
Power source.
Retrieval.
Containment.
Protection.
The Norns did have an odd way of tying the threads of destiny, an expression Kaehra had been told more than once in her youth, if this was how she would find the Tesseract after all these years.
'Midgardians, what have you gotten yourself into?' Kaehra thought miserably, an exasperated sigh escaping her lips.
"Ma'am, I'm going to need you to leave. This is a restricted area." A stern, but feminine voice called, cutting through the silence. Kaehra whirled around. It was rare that she was so deep in her own thoughts that she didn't notice someone behind her.
The figure, a woman, was rather short, but curvacious, with short, curly hair the color of sunset and piercing green eyes. Her hands were at the gun holster at her thigh, ready to draw and shoot at any moment.
Kaehra silently cursed the Norns and the Fates and the gods of Asgard: whomever crossed her mind in that moment. The Fates truly were cruel to bring someone of her likeness in front of Kaehra, especially at a time like this. The universe had no concept of mercy, especially when it came to her.
"I won't ask you again-"
"What will you do with the Tesseract once it is recovered?" Kaehra interrupted, shoving her emotion-driven thoughts into the recesses of her mind.
The woman's only reaction was a barely-noticeable tensing of her jaw. "That's classified information."
"The Tesseract," Kaehra began, "Should never have been touched by Midgardian hands. No hands should have ever touched it. It should have been left in some corner to gather dust, not as a cause to begin some war or as an energy source."
"And why not?" A deep voice, a man's, replied this time. Kaehra didn't flinch as a tall, dark skinned man with an eye patch covering on of his eyes stepped into the room.
"Director Fury."
The man nodded in the female's direction before turning to Kaehra. "Who are you?"
"My name matters little right now. Give up your search for the Tesseract."
"I'm afraid I can't do that."
"Then you should send it back to Asgard. No good will come of it remaining here."
"And how do you know so much about the Tesseract?" Director Fury, or so the green-eyed woman had called him, had asked.
Kaehra wanted to sigh. Humans: so inquisitive but so foolish at times. It was part of the many reasons she was fond of them. They were like children, seeing the world for the first time. They wanted to touch everything and leave their mark everywhere. They still had much to learn, though.
"The Tesseract, if not surrendered to the Asgardians, will destroy you more than any weapon or outside force can. Death will be your only escape from its grasp."
Author's Note: Well, I hate this chapter. Especially the second half. I wrote it while sick and still have a fever so forgive any mistake. So yes, you've more-or-less met Severan, who'll be an important character. For people who read the first version of this story, Severan's going to be quite different. And who's this mysterious Natasha look-alike? She'll be pretty important later on, and she's a new addition. And the Tesseract... What do people think about this development? It's not as great as some might think. Can I please have some reviews? No one reviewed last chapter and I really want to know what people think.