Hey guys, I'm sooooo sorry for the mega wait. I just got caught up in GCSE stuff, and other crap, and it was terrible. But I did not forget about you guys, and here is the next chapter! Enjoy!
A/N: Contains worse swearing than usual. I was in a bad mood, okay?
Disclaimer: I only own Nyx.
Loki gritted his teeth to suppress a scream.
He had lasted for hours, wincing but not screaming or writhing. Not letting the Chitauri see how this was effecting him. Not letting them win.
But he couldn't take it anymore.
As the iron poker was pressed against his bare stomach, right above the welt that had already been made, Loki let out an ear splitting yell. It was a yell of pain and grief and anger and self-hatred, as his Jotun blue skin spread out from the wound in an attempt to cool the burn. He distantly heard his tormentors laugh, a deep and cruel sound. He didn't care enough to be embarrassed that they had broken him. He was in too much pain.
The poker kept coming, as it had for hours now, burning each available sliver of his tormented flesh. By now he was fully transformed, his skin blue and his eyes crimson, screaming, and there was nothing he could do about it. He was vulnerable, a state he hated to be in. Strapped to a table, arms tied above his head, his magic reserves empty after fighting to heal himself, there was nothing he could do but lie there and take what they gave him. I knew this was going to happen. I knew he would torture me. I just didn't expect it to be this bad.
His feet were slashed and bloody, his torso and legs covered in burns and welts and knife wounds. His face was a purple mess of bruises, jotun skin, blood, sweat and tears. His left shoulder was dislocated, burning with each thrum of his racing heart. On the inside of his right wrist was the Norse rune for Pain and Suffering, setting his nerves on fire so that he felt like he was constantly and simultaneously being electrocuted and burned.
There were black spots in front of his vision, and he felt lightheaded. His limbs felt tingly, and his heartbeat was pounding in his skull. Blood from his forehead was slowly trickling into his eyes and mouth, filling his senses with the coppery taste and smell of his own blood.
His crimson eyes rolled up to the ceiling, which was covered in dark stone and splattered all over with his blood, their crazed light reflecting the moons. His pointed canines were visible as he opened his mouth to scream, to yell, to do anything, but no sound came out of his blue lips. A hoarse whisper was all he could manage as the poker was placed on his forearm, and another rune was carved brutally into his skin, blood and smoke streaming from the wound. He had been tortured for too long. His body was giving up. Do they mean to kill me now, here, like this?
The only answer to his unspoken question was the iron poker being driven into his gut, and the swirling darkness that came after.
It wasn't supposed to end like this.
"You're too late."
The voice echoed through the stone hallways, seeming to come from all directions yet none at all. The tone was cold, calculating, stating a fact but expecting an answer.
"Hela." Was all I said to the emptiness. Meet me face to face, coward.
A female silhouette slowly formed at the end of the tunnel. I squinted, and saw that she was wearing battle armour and holding a staff. Reflexively, I tightened my hold on my weapons, and saw Thor do the same. There was a pregnant pause as we stared her down.
It was Thor who broke it. "What do you mean," he said slowly, "we're too late?"
"Loki is gone. He is with Thanos now." She said it so casually, like a simple statement, and not the three words that shattered all the remaining self control I possessed. Loki is gone. Loki is gone. I'm too late. Thanos already has him, is torturing him. He might already have killed him.
I must have stood there for a good five minutes, mouth open, staring dumbfounded at Hela, unable to comprehend what this meant. This can't be happening. I was finally brought back to reality by a clap of thunder from above. I glanced at Thor; he was in a battle stance, eyes blazing, Mjolnir gripped in his white fist. "You handed my brother over to that monster?" His voice boomed throughout the hallways, louder than Hela had been, and I winced as the volume of it left my ears ringing. "You shall feel the wrath of the mighty Thor!" And with that, he charged towards the Queen of the Dead, footsteps causing the ground to shake beneath him, lightning crackling around his hammer.
And was flung against the wall by an invisible force.
By now the pain in my skull had increased tenfold, pounding with every thud of my heart. I was painfully aware of my almost empty magic reserves. I can't fight her. But I have to. I shook my head to attempt to clear the pain. When it didn't work, I gritted my teeth and looked back from the crumpled Thor to Hela.
"Why?" A simple enough question, but with so many meanings. And so many answers that I did not want to hear.
"You're going to have to be more specific, Wanderer." Her tone was mocking, lax, infuriating. She meandered slowly towards me, taking her sweet time about it.
"Don't call me that." I'll kill you. I will kill you. Somehow, I will.
"Why not? It's what you are." Walking slowly, so slowly. Too slowly.
"You betrayed me. We took oaths for our agreement. And you went back on it. You gave Loki to Thanos and Thanos is still alive, hurting him." My voice was rising, panic, pain and frustration taking over.
"You betrayed me. You went to the Avengers behind my back, and plotted ways to kill me. I'd say that goes against the oaths." She spat the last word. She had come close enough now for me to see the moonlight gleaming off the bones of her staff, and her sword at her waist. She was still several feet away from me, though.
"I was trying to protect Loki, not kill you." My voice sounded feeble to my own ears. All anger had left, all resistance had left, and all I had now was an overwhelming sense of loss and grief.
I wasn't really surprised when she started laughing.
"You know," she was laughing through her words, still walking towards me, "a long time ago, I would have considered making you a real ally. You were brutal, you were cunning, you were dangerous. But now?" She barked a laugh, then turned serious, glaring at me with her fathomless black eyes. "You have grown tame, Nyx. Your affections towards the Liesmith have weakened you. Your years in Midgard, away from the Void, have weakened you. You were an animal, a predator, a force uncontrolled. But now the beast abides by the rules, hides her nature and does not embrace her power. It is a waste, an embarrassment. A creature like you was not destined to be tame."
Like an unchecked flame, rage and pain and loss and anger and bloodlust rose up inside of me, a fire in my veins, spreading to every corner of my body. My skin grew hot as I glared at the bitch before me, and I felt myself losing control. Embrace the demon within, you said. Your power will increase tenfold, you said. My emotions taking over, losing my grip on reality and sanity, sinking deep into the Void.
Pale skin turned red. Emerald eyes turned crimson. Veins glowing as molten lava replaced the blood that was there before. Nails sharpened into claws, teeth grown to razor points, canines bared. The tail extended, long and flexible, red and razor sharp at the tip, responsive to my every command.
My magic was useless; so was my Aesir form. In this form I had natural weapons and teleportation. The price I had to pay was my self control. I was taking a backseat, letting my instincts take over and control what I was doing. There was nothing I could do to stop it. I had become the Demon. The monster. But I was too angry, too bent on planning the murder of Hela, to care. Let the self hatred come later.
I wrapped my clawed hands around the hilts of my katanas, teeth bared and eyes burning. I barely even registered what I was doing until I decided to speak, my voice low and demonic, completely unrecognisable.
"I'll show you how tame I am, you fucker."
And there you go! Is Loki dead? How will Nyx survive with no magic? What will Hela do?
Stay tuned to find out! :P
I swear I will try to get back to updating this regularly. I swear. Quote me on it if you want.
Reviews make me update faster :D