Author's Note: So sorry for not updating in so long. Enjoy the chapter. Kinda long.
Hel studied the man laying in front of her. It had been three days since she had given him the antidote and nothing had changed. He was still pale white and thin. 'It would be a pity for him to die now. But perhaps father can visit him here...if he doesn't end up here himself.' she thought. 'Then again...if they both die then they'll be together.'
She watched him for a bit longer before turning away. "Perhaps tomorrow then." she told herself.
Thor paced back and forth, wishing his father would wake up. His mother had forbidden him to enter Jotunheim again in fear of his presence being taken the wrong way and starting a war which Asgard couldn't afford at the moment.
He sat down at the foot of the bed and placed his hand over his father's. "What can we do?" he asked quietly. "What action must we take that is the best for the realm?" He watched Odin lay there unmoving. He knew what his father would say. And none of his words were what Thor wanted to hear.
He didn't fight as he was pushed onto the table. He closed his mind as he felt straps lamp down on his arms and legs. He held his breath when one was drawn across his head and neck. And he closed his eyes when the Other stepped into his line of vision.
"Are you ready Trickster?" he asked. Loki didn't answer and supressed a shudder when he felt a finger caress his face. What he rally wanted to do was bite it off, but he didn't want the taste of the Other's tainted blood in his mouth as part of his last moments. The Other let out a small chuckle.
"Where do you think you will go after this?" he asked. "Valhalla or Helheim? I know you only go to Valhalla when you die in battle, but maybe this is a battle for you. Sadly I do not care." He leaned away from the god still smiling. "If you had given me what I wanted in the first place, then perhaps this wouldn't need to be done. Well...maybe it would have, but it probably would have been much later than this."
"Just do it." Loki growled, opening his eyes to glare at him. The Other smiled. "Of course. I am eager to be rid of you as much as you are of me." he said walking over to a machine. Loki watched him, wanting to see the reason for his death so he could remember it wherever he went.
If he was lucky, he'd go to Helheim and be able to warn Thor about the weapon. And he'd be able to see his children as much as he wanted then, instead of avoiding them so Odin wouldn't bother them because of who their father was, fearing a conspiracy of some sort.
He tensed when he felt a hand being placed on his chest. He looked at Thanos standing over him. Loki smiled at him. "Will you enjoy this? Watching him drain my magic? Killing me?" he asked. Thanos didn't answer him and turned away.
When the Other approached him again, he was holding eight long needles connected to long tubes which were connected to the machine. They were unusual, unlike anything Loki had ever seen. They were also thicker than regular needles. He held his breath as the first was placed against his skin. The god ignored the pain, telling himself it would all be over soon.
When they were all in place, four on each side of his chest and abdomen, he relaxed a bit. The Other made his way back over to the machine, watching him. Then he pressed a small button and waited as dark liquid flowed through the four tubes on his side.
Loki had promised himself when he was younger that he would not show any emotion when his death came. That he would not scream no matter how painful it was.
When the liquid reached him and entered his body, it felt as if something was being pushed inside of him. Gently at first. Then the pressure increased. It felt like something was being torn away inside.
And then he screamed.
Jane smiled as the results finally appeared on the screen. The power levels looked stable enough, but she wanted to be sure. As she reached over to type some commands into the keyboard, there was a crash or thunder and Thor stepped into the room through the window they had left open for him for when he visited.
Usually it was left open anyway to vent some of the heat from the weapon out of the room, but after the god had broken the window a few times when he visited unexpectedly it was just left open.
"How fares the progress of the weapon?" he asked. Jane looked over her shoulder at him. "It's fine. Just have to make sure its stable enough to use." she replied. He nodded and began to slowly pace the room.
"How much longer until you think it is ready?" he asked. "A few months I think." the astrophysicist said. His eyes widened. "That long?" he said tiredly. She nodded. "For some reason a few of these chemicals aren't mixing well. Hence the stability tests. And I think I might need something else too." she explained. After she described to him what she thought might stabilize the weapon, he nodded. "I will get you what is needed." he said.
"I shall take my leave then Lady Jane." He nodded to Darcy and flew out the window. When Jane looked at the other woman, she gave her a look that dared her to say something. "Hey. I just thought that he seemed kinda stressed." she said.
He couldn't move. The pain racing through his body made it hurt to even breathe. He tried to stop for a moment, easing the pain slightly but when the need to breathe overcame the desire to lessen the agony, he gave in. As a result the pain increased in him to an unbearable point then faded after a few seconds.
As he lay there, allowing his mind to finally wander to release himself of the pain of keeping it under control, a memory floated to the surface that both eased and sharpened the pain. He remembered the day his mother had reprimanded him as a child for wanting to give some of his magic to a small animal that had been hurt and helpless so it could protect itself later on when he wasn't around.
' "Loki you must never do that. It is the first thing young magic users are taught. I know now I should have taught you the same thing as soon as I knew you had the ability to do magic to prevent this. If I had not been here..." ' She had paused to gather herself before speaking again.
' "Giving magic away is dangerous and can hurt you very badly. Do you understand this?" He had nodded slowly, taking in her words carefully as he always had even when she believed he hadn't.
A tear escaped him at the memory. When he had gotten older, right before the war when he had discovered this true heritage, he had cursed her, hurt her with his words. And he knew now that he would never see her again to make up for them.
The Other watched the god's struggle, and the tears, smiling. He looked over at Thanos who watched from the shadows.
"Don't worry Thanos. When I am finished...you can still have the body after." His smile widened at the look of pure horror on his partner's face and he threw his head back and laughed when the man left the room in a rush, retching.
He turned back to the container still smiling as he watched the green and black energy fill it. He moved to lean over the god, looking into his eyes.
His pupils were dilated so much that the black covered the green almost entirely. He studied the unhealthy looking pale white skin and the black veins that branched out across it from the black liquid forcing the magic out of the body in front of him.
He had thought the god would be dead by now. He had hoped. But now he saw that he might not be rid of the Trickster god so easily. He would have to come up with another use for the him if he survived.
Frigga watched her son pace back and forth across the room restlessly. When he had returned from his visit to Midgard he had seemed even more exhausted than usual. She worried for him since he had not been sleeping well. She suspected he hadn't slept at all since Loki's absence, but she knew he would never admit it so she never asked. But now she felt she had to do something.
"Thor stop." she said softly. He did and inclined his head to her voice. When she stood, he turned to her. She pulled his head onto her chest. As a child, when he had heard her heartbeat it had calmed his fears. She found it still worked, but now only in extreme situations.
With Loki, she had always laid his head on her lap and stroked his hair until he fell asleep. When he became an adult, he had insisted that it didn't work anymore but more often than not she had visited his room when he'd had nightmares and done the calming ritual and he had relaxed. Sometimes he had even been awake for some of the visits and had not fought her.
She had always known that in ways of the mind Loki was stronger than Thor and more fragile in ways of the heart. Now both of her sons were being forced to face what they were weak in and she told herself she had to do something to help them both.
When Thor moved to straighten up she held his face and looked into his eyes. The normally clear blue orbs were still slightly clouded, but seemed much more focused.
"Everything will be fine Thor. Soon...everything will be the way it was." she assured him.
The Other stared at the last trickling remnants of flickering magic being sucked into his weapon. He placed a hand on the god's neck. There was still a faint pulse. Each beat was about ten seconds apart.
'Impossible!' he thought. Loki should have been dead, but he wasn't. At least not yet. He turned away with a huff. When the process was done he disconnected the needles and tubes from the body on the table and watched the black liquid oozing from the flesh. He continued to stare at him for a moment longer, trying to decide what to do. Then he called in some servants.
"Get him out of my sight. Take him to his room if you must. And get someone to clean this up." he snapped and pushed past them. Islis looked at the body lying on the table with sadness. He had liked Loki. He had been the first person to touch and treat him with at least some aspect of kindness. With a sigh he and the others lifted him from the table and carried him to his room. He sent the other servants back down to clean the room while he stayed with the god.
Then he called in a wash basin and cloth and began wiping the black liquid off of his skin. It was the least he could do at the moment. The last kindness he could offer.
Thanos stood on the balcony, his knuckles white from gripping the banister so tightly. He couldn't even begin to describe the way he had felt when the Other had offered him Loki's dying body. He hadn't agreed to or with what the Other had done, but he couldn't do anything about it without going against his authority.
He watched the Other emerge from the lower levels of the castle, followed shortly after by Islis and a few other servants carrying the god's limp body. He waited until the Other had gone to another part of the castle in the opposite direction of Loki before he moved.
He followed them up to Loki's room and snarled at the servants who came out. He noticed that their numbers were one short and he entered the room to investigate.
He stared at Islis wiping the black fluid from the unusually pale skin. The man looked up at him nervously. "What are you doing?" he asked. Islis put the cloth down and backed away. "I was just...he's dying isn't he?" he said. Thanos looked at Loki lying on the bed and then back at him. "It looks like it." Islis nodded and picked up the cloth again. "I just thought I might clean him up before...it happened." he said slowly. Thanos nodded.
"You don't have to." he told him. "I'll do it." he added when the servant began to shake his head. "Oh. Ok." was all he said. He placed the cloth back in the basin and left the room.
Thanos stared down at Loki once again. His heart almost skipped a beat when he saw the blue, black veined lids uncover the emerald-green eyes. "Loki? Can you hear me?" he asked hopefully. The god stared blankly at him and said nothing for a moment. Then he spoke. Or at least he tried to. All that came out as a rasping choked sound.
"Shhh. It's aright. The Other is done with you." he said quietly. At the mention of the name Loki tensed, whimpering as his movements caused him even more pain.
As he ran the wet cloth over his body, Thanos kept his actions as gentle as possible. He didn't know what kind of chemical the Other had used to do this and it worried him. But he pressed as much fluid as he could out of the wounds. When he had gotten out as much as he could, he had two full basins of the black liquid at his feet. That much, even more was still flowing through Loki's veins.
All he could do now was wait. And hope.
Author's Note: So I'm not going away or anything. Just wanted to speed this along a bit. A new idea popped into my hed and I want to hurry up and write it. You know. Tony/Loki. Come on. You know you've waited a whole story- to those of you who have read Loki's Pain- to read about them and the physical stuff. Like they say for movies 'coming soon'.
Anyway now here's my fangirl moment. OMG OMG OMG THERE"S GONNA BE A THOR 3! Thor: Ragnarök. Loki is definitely going to be in it. I mean he has to be. You can't have a Ragnarök without Loki who is the cause of it. *calms self* Sorry. I'm CRAZY about Loki. And To Hiddleston. Sadly a friend of mine doesn't see the reason for my attraction to him. Curse her. When I called her a mewling quim she was like O.O?... *giggle* Lol.
Also I am accepting suggestions. Credit will be given. Come on people. Let's bond though writing! I know. That may sound creepy to some of you. As I'm typing this I see it. But I'm not gonna delete it. I'm usually shy but I'm putting myself out there and expanding my comfort zone. But my friends tell me I need to do it. So I'm taking their advice for once and doing it. If it comes back to bite me I blame them.
Hope you enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoy writing it btw.
DO NOT READ UNDER THIS IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER. THANK YOU FOR READING SO FAR.
There's gonna be more Steve/Bruce in the next chapter for all those who ship them. What are they called? You know like FrostIron. What's the relationship name for Hulk and Captain America? *mind wanders* Hmmm. Also perhaps some Tony/Loki in the next chapter. I know. FINALLY. But I just wanted to make it as realistic as possible. Loki has/had been abused and stuff after all. I don't think he's just gonna run into Tony's arms immediately.