Unicorn - Tom Hiddleston fanfic

12 - Dead Man's Pool

Tom storms out of the room and you're left alone. Your legs shake with surpressed anger then you give up. You collapse onto the bed, crying. 

***

Tom walks off, hands balled into fists. He's still wearing those now ragged pyjamas but he doesn't care. He just wants to get away, to hit something. Or someone.

A car pulls up beside him as he walks, engine purring. The back seat window rolls down. Tom glances to the right but ignores it and speeds up. The car keeps pace with him easily. 

"Mr Hiddleston, get in the car," Nameless says, almost bored. The door swings open and catches Tom in the back. He hisses in pain and whirls around, anger flaring in his blue eyes. Nameless points a gun at him and he reluctantly gets in the car.

"Now," Nameless says, gun still pointed at Tom's head. "Phone Unicorn and tell her to come to the lake. She'll know which one. It is right next to her house, after all." She holds out a silver phone and Tom takes it with shaking hands. He taps in the number and the phone rings.

***

The hotel phoen rings. You jump and stare at it for a few seconds suspiciously. Can hotel phones even ring? Aren't they just for room service?

Brrring. Brrring.

"Shut up," you moan. Brrring. Brrring. You pick up the phone reluctantly and hold it to your ear.

"Hello?" you say. There's a relieved sigh on the other end of the line.

"Unicorn." It's Tom. Well, that fight lasted long. "Listen to me, please. You've got to go to the lake."

"Which one?"

"Um... the one by your house?"

"No. No no no. Why?"

"I don't know why. Please just go." You can hear Tom beginning to cry. Your heart almost melts and you nod.

"Okay. I'll go. But I'm still in pyjamas," you say. Tom gives a sniffly laugh.

"So am I," he says then the phone is cut off. You take it away from your ear and look at it for another three seconds. Then you put it down and run for the door, bare feet slapping against the wood as you run. The thick carpet on the stairs masks your footsteps and you hurtle down, flinging open the doors and skidding out. You look around you and guess at the direction you need to take. You run left, clinging to a lampost to fly around the corner. You cross the road at full pelt, narrowly avoiding a car. It smashes into a building and you swear under your breath. 

"Car crashes follow me everywhere," you mutter. You glance up and swear again. You took a wrong turn but you know the way, a short cut. You bank right, running down a narrow alleyway and jumping over bin bags. Your breathing is quick and fast, every intake of air causing you pain. You glimpse your reflection in a glass store front and your eyes widen. Your pyjamas are ripped and your arms are cut. Your hair is still damp and knotted from when Frisbee drove the car into a lake and your face is still red and raw from the burns. The cast that your right arm is in is chipped and dented and causing more harm than good. You rip it off, wincing, and throw it through a store window. The glass shatters and people scream. And alarm goes off but you keep on running, concentrating on your breathing and the direction you're going. You skid around a corner and stop running suddenly. You've reached the lake. Dead Man's Pool.

You're the only one around apart from a sleek silver car. The drivers door opens and you dart into the shadows. A man in a suit and sunglasses steps out and opens the back door. You lean forwards to get a better view. Tom is pushed out and Nameless is right behind him, a gun rammed into his neck. You gasp and cover your mouth with your hands.

"Oh Tom," you whisper. He's still wearing the ripped pyjamas of old. The stripes are covered in blood and dirt and Tom hangs his head. 

"Mr Hiddleston, it appears your Unicorn isn't here," Nameless says frostily. You hear a click as the safety is turned off on the gun. Tom flinches and you step forwards. For some reason you're filled with courage, a fire that burns in your heart, your very soul. 

"Oh, I'm here," you say, arms folded and walking forwards slowly. Nameless looks around and lowers the gun. Tom heaves a sigh of relief then his knees give. He crumples to the ground, falling forwards onto his hands and knees. You change course and walk towards him. Nameless raises the gun again, aims it at you.

"Do you know why I'm here, Unicorn?" she asks. You stop walking and frown.

"No," you admit. "But Sham said it had something to do with beginning the end...?"

"Then James was correct," Nameless says. Her hair is dark brown and tumbles over her shoulders. The ends are dyed with what looks like blood. The sight makes you shiver and you shift your gaze, making eye contact with her for the first time. Her eyes are the darkest brown there could be, almost black. Her pupils are bigger than average and seem to fill her entire eye sockets. 

"You want me to start something that will end, say, the world," you say slowly. Nameless nods. 

"We - I - want to rule the world," she says. "All you pesky people. Destroying your own planet. At least let me do it for you, let me rule and govern and send you all spiralling into chaos. I will change the world, change the population of the Earth. With me in charge I can start a new empire." Nameless smiles at you, the sort of smile a shark might give you before it eats you alive. "And you can rule with me.

'Sacrifices will have to be made, of course. Your family needed to die to make sure you had no one to convince you to stop. Mr Hiddleston coming along and saving you was also orchestrated by us but the romance? No. Like I said, sacrfices have to be made." Nameless moves her arm to aim the gun at Tom. He rolls his eyes and mouths to you 'this happens far too much'. You smile and Nameless raises her eyebrows, not looking away from you.

"Whatever gives you two so much confidence?" she murmurs. Tom stands up shakily without her noticing. You don't let your eyes move to him; you can't give the game away. 

"I don't know," you say honestly. "You're just not very scary, I guess."

"Not scary? A woman with a gun isn't scary?" Nameless says. You laugh and Tom moves towards Nameless slowly, walking silently.

"I know a toy gun when I see one," Tom says suddenly. Nameless spins around, eyes widening. She raises her arm as if to hit Tom over the head but he grabs her wrist and twists. Nameless drops the gun and turns to run, to flee. One of her bodyguards, the driver, steps forwards and hits Tom over the head with a real gun, a rifle. Tom crumples to the ground and your mouth falls open. Nameless turns back to you and smiles that evil smile again. 

"Now," she says. "Either you agree to help or Loki here gets thrown in the lake. Dead Man's Pool, I believe it's called. Why?"

"Nearly every man to 'interfere' with the pool have died," you explain. "Fishermen, boaters, swimmers... but they don't drown. Every single one is found on the beach, on the land. Hung, stabbed, shot, poisoned, eaten, burnt, beaten... All of them. Died in unnatural ways. So they called the lake 'Dead Man's Pool' and no one goes near it now. That's why it's the cleanest lake in the city, in the world. No one dares to go here." 

"Interesting," Nameless murmurs. "When you say shot..."

"Bow and arrow or slingshot," you say. "Never a bullet wound. All old fashioned weapons."

"So as of yet no one's been killed in the modern way? Who was the last to die?"

"My dad," you say, your voice cracking. "He was found hanging from that tree over there." You point with one shaking hand. Nameless purses her lips and doesn't turn around. 

"So the first sacrifice in the war," she says quietly, "will be classed under a curse. Good." Her bodyguard throws her another gun and she points it at Tom.

And fires.