*NOTE: I wanted to make a name change for a character so I had to repost this chapter. Thanks!
CHAPTER 10
She lifted her hood and Lina felt as if she was staring in a mirror. Her twin sister stood before her with an elegance and confidence that Lina never had. She wore dark make up and had a smile that conveyed a wickedness that matched Loki's. Instead of feeling immediate anger towards her, Lina felt jealous.
"Where is Odin?" Lina demanded.
"He's alive."
"Where is he?" Loki demanded.
"Tsk tsk tsk," Lina's sister stated. "Is this any way to treat a guest in your lovely home?"
Loki's glare intensified.
"Have it your way." As she said this, two creatures that Lina remembered from the night she first saw her sister burst through the floor and took hold of Loki on either side. One more came up and grabbed Lina's arms so she couldn't save him.
"LOKI!" she called out. His eyes screamed back at her to save him, but the creatures took him away before his mouth could utter out a single word
The creature that held Lina towered over her. Its face was a permanent frown, its eyes sunken, and its hands were cold with death. She was sure this creature was once a human. Its pale skin made Lina's crawl at the sight of it. Various wounds and bruises coated the creature. It had razor sharp teeth and growled at Lina whenever she moved.
"You like?" her sister asked, gesturing towards the creature. "They're of my own creation. Why waste perfectly good victim bodies when they make the ultimate minions." She strolled across the throne room and sat in the throne. "Power…it feels good."
"What do you want?" Lina growled.
Her sister sighed. "All of this time…all of this time away from me and you don't even ask my name? No 'Hi, sis, how're you doing?' Such a selfish one."
"Fine. What is your name, oh sister of mine?" Sarcasm and venom were embedded in each word she spoke.
"Why thank you for asking." Lina's sister curtsied. "Always nice to be acknowledged by the princess," she mocked. "My name is Maura, your highness. I'm here to steal, humiliate, and conquer."
With those words escaping Maura's mouth, Lina watched as the light skies of Asgard grew dark. She could hear screams outside as she could only assume that the creatures her sister had created were invading the kingdom. Lina worried about Odin, Frigga, Thor, and especially Loki.
Her sister made a gesture towards the door. Another creature strode in with restraints. The creatures proceeded to place shackles around her wrists and neck which they both attached to the floor and left her in the middle of the room for her sister.
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Dragged down to the prisoners' cells, Loki saw it had been bewitched to be one large unified dungeon, people in shackles lining the walls. He saw his father, mother, brother, and many other warriors already there. The only one awake was his mother, fear on her face as she watched her son being brought in.
"Insolent creatures," he muttered as they walked away.
"Loki," his mother called.
"Yes, mother?"
"Where is she?"
"Still with her sister. I don't know what's happening but—"
As if on cue, he heard a scream. It was blood curdling. It was full of pain and agony. It was Lina's.
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"You're difficult to find, you know that?" Maura scolded, hitting Lina with her whip again. Lina had marks running across her back where her sister had hit her numerous times. Her armored training outfit had been no match for her sister's whip, powered by her dark magic.
She cried. She wanted Loki. She wanted Frigga. She wanted her father there beside her. The pain she felt was agonizing and overpowering. She couldn't even think straight.
Maura eased on the torture of her sister, sitting in front of Lina as she whimpered on the floor. "Do you know why I came here?"
Lina didn't answer, she kept her face to the floor as her tears rolled down her face. Her back grew numb, her mind still not clearing.
"You have untapped potential," Maura continued, gendering at her whip. "You have an ability within you, Lina, that your little prince tried to help you with. Both of us have it." She looked at Lina greedily. "I came here to make you a proposition." Maura strode up to the throne and sat down and sighed deeply. "Have some respect for yourself. Sit up."
Lina weakly pressed against the floor, sitting up. She winced against the pain in her back as she looked at her sister.
"We can rule together, you know," Maura continued. "With our powers we could be unstoppable. I mean, I've destroyed several kingdoms and overtaken realms with just my powers alone. Can you imagine our potential if we work together?"
"I will never rule with you." Lina sat up straighter as she delivered these words.
"That's what you say now."
"It's what I know, you bitch."
Maura whipped Lina in the face. "Have some respect and learn your place."
She felt the blood running down her face. "Where is Loki?"
"Loki, Loki, Loki—is that all you think about?" With a wave of her hand, Loki appeared next to Maura restrained in the same fashion as Lina. "Happy?"
His delicate little flower was in terrible condition. The whip marks were bright red and made her face and back swell. Her facial expression was hard and angry, a face he had never seen in her before.
"Leave him alone," she ordered.
Maura giggled as she looked Loki over. "Handsome. Strong. And there's a lot of anger in this one. I'm surprised you chose him." She walked around him, still taking him in. "It's also surprising that he'd choose you over all of the women he could be fooling around with."
Lina let out a noise similar to the growl of an animal's. She was angry and boiling over with rage.
"Down, kitty," Maura teased. "I'm surprised, too, that you managed to stay pure all of these years. Even I found it more amusing to follow a life of freedom and pleasure. Your views on love are false and will eventually lead you to unhappiness.
"You say you want to find your true love and live your 'happily ever after'. What for? You know damn well, Lina, that everyone you love, leaves you." Maura strode over to Lina and stood behind her. "You think Loki would cast you a second glace if you weren't a princess? Do you think he would have talked to you in the first place if his father hadn't told him to welcome you?"
Lina's brow relaxed as she took in her sister's words.
~Don't listen to her. She's trying to wear you down.
To hear Loki's voice in her head calmed her and cleared her mind.
"FOOL!" Maura called out, whipping Loki. "Don't you dare do that again."
Lina's heart dropped. She lunged out to reach Loki but was choked by her restraints. Coughing, she looked up at him again, seeing a mark on his face that she assumed matched her own.
"Foolish girl." Maura knelt down and forced Lina to look into her eyes. "You're pathetic. And weak."
Lina spit in Maura's face. She wiped it away and laughed to herself. "You do have a bite still, though."
Maura walked over to Loki and released his neck restraint.
"You need to make a decision, Lina. Either you join me and rule or…" she looked at Loki, "…he dies."
Lina's eyes widened. "You wouldn't dare."
An evil grin spread across Maura's face. She cast out her whip with a loud crack. It wrapped around Loki's neck and started to tighten, his face reddening and his mouth gasping for air.
"No! NO!" Lina cried out.
"It's your decision, Lina." Maura watched as she slowly took more of Loki's breath away, the fire dying from his eyes.
"I'LL DO IT."
The whip let go of Loki's neck, Loki gasping for air.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear that last part."
"I'll do it," Lina whimpered.
Maura grinned and waved her hand once more.
All at once, Lina felt a shooting pain run through her body. Her mind started to grow dark and twisted. She felt trapped and limited as this darkness took over. She fell to the ground as the marks on her back and face disappeared. Her training outfit turned into a long black dress similar to her sister's and her hair grew long and dark. She shut her eyes, feeling the last of her transformation completing.
"No," Loki mustered out. He watched as Lina's bright green eyes shut and reopened, replaced by a dark red.
His flower was gone.