dahlia? (a loki fanfic)

chapter eight.

"Alright, time to leave," Clint said as after the avengers had finished eating, and he clapped his hands to get Dahlia to move away from Loki and get up. She didn't get the memo. She wasn't even looking at them. She still had her face buried in Loki's clothing.

Thor walked over and picked up Mjølnir from Loki's lap, before gesturing for his brother to get up. Loki looked down at Dahlia before removing the arm that was around her, releasing her from being trapped between his arms, which made her look around and realize what was happening. Loki softly wiped away one of the tears still on her face, before Thor grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to his feet. Dahlia got up on her own accord.

"Where are we taking Pat-" Steve cut himself off, "Her." he corrected himself, while nodding at Dahlia.

Thor shrugged, and Loki furrowed his eyebrows, unable to say anything while wearing his muzzle.

"I'm Asgardian." Dahlia stated flatly, as if she didn't even expect anyone to hear what she'd just stated. "Really?" Steve asked, and Tony rolled his eyes, leaving the room before everyone else.

Thor looked at Loki, who nodded subtly in agreement. Thor then looked at Dahlia, and cleared his throat, "Alright, I suppose you will have to answer to Odin, along with Loki."

-

"Dahlia Fredriksdottir." Odin spoke to the young girl in front of him, covered in chains, one around her neck, linked to the handcuffs around her wrists, linked to the chain around her waist. The chain around her waist was linked to three more chains, two of which were being held by Asgardian guards, and one of his lead down to the chains around her ankles. It was an unnecessary set up for such a young person, but Loki in turn was in the exact same one.

Loki had spoken to Odin before Dahlia. The two of them had been seperated almost immediately when reaching Asgard.

"The crimes you have committed are foul." Odin stated, and Dahlia didn't respond. "You were presumed dead when you disappeared, yet here you stand, an accompliace in Loki's crimes."

Dahlia looked at the guards around her. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I was doing the humans a favour." Dahlia responded aggressively, moving her gaze to glare at Odin.

"What twisted ideas made you believe killing civilians is doing anyone a favour?" Odin asked, returning Dahlia's aggressive tone.

"Humans have foul ideals. They believe themselves better than each other based on the pigment in their skin. Humans kill each other over how dark their skin is compared to the rest. They hate each other over it." Dahlia spat each word out as if it were poison. "Killing a few racists did nothing but help them out. If I could, I would seek out every last one of them and make sure they never got to take another breath."

Odin stared Dahlia dead in the eyes, before rolling his eyes. Dahlia gasped slightly at his response, offended.

"Based on the fact that you have shown no remorse for your actions, you will serve time in our prisons until I've decided you should be let go." He stated, before gesturing for the guards to take her away.

"You mean until you're dead!" Dahlia shouted, but Odin didn't even bother responding, he just watched as the guards pulled her away, while she was unwillingly complying.

-

Dahlia was placed in a cell close to Loki's, and they could see each other, but not touch nor really speak. Loki's cell was much more furnished than any other cell, Dahlia's really only had a small bed in it.

Loki stared at Dahlia when she first arrived. The girl looked around the empty room before sitting herself in the middle of it, on the floor, not even looking at Loki though she knew he was within eyesight. She stayed in that spot for the rest of the day. Loki, unable to speak to her, eventually stopped staring, and laid down on his bed.

When he woke up the next day, Dahlia was still in the same position.

He moved the chair in his room to the clear wall closest to Dahlia, and tried to get her to look at him, look up from the floor, but she didn't. He tried to speak to her, but she couldn't hear him. The guards told him to be quiet once he raised his voice in a last attempt to get Dahlia to look at him. He figured her powers couldn't work outside of the cell, so she couldn't communicate telepathically either.

Loki rolled his eyes at the guards telling him to shut up, and grabbed one of the books in his cell, reading it while still sitting in the chair placed closest to Dahlia.

Dahlia didn't move from the floor the entire rest of that day either, it felt torturing to Loki, he wasn't even entirely sure if it was Dahlia, or if it was just some stupid illusion to bother him. Unfortunately it was actually Dahlia.

A week went past without Dahlia moving much. She stayed on the floor for the most part, every now and then she swifted to laying on her back and staring at the ceiling, or she would just be curled up, but never once, at least to Loki's notice, had she looked at him.

On the seventh day, the first week of their stay in the dungeouns, Dahlia had walked up to one of the clear prison walls, and touched it. It stung, painfully, and she retracted her hand fairly quickly, and then just stood there, as close as possible to the wall, staring at it for a few minutes, before once again sitting down on the floor.

When Loki had recieved new books, he had requested they be sent to Dahlia's room instead. It took some convincing, but the books arrived in Dahlia's room. She didn't seem to care, however. she never once touched the books.

Dahlia was driving herself insane, completely in defeat, and watching her made Loki drive himself insane too. Loki seemed to be doing much better than he had been doing when he arrived on earth. He already looked healthier, and his brain was much better now that it was no longer under mind control, and most certainly far away from the creatures that had been torturing him for the last year. For Dahlia, however, being stuck in this cell was almost like reliving the last years, and she had been locked up for so much longer than a year. It was practically impossible for Loki to relate.

After 16 days, Dahlia's head finally stopped hanging, and she let out a scream, out of nowhere. A loud, gutwrenching scream. She kept it going until she phsyically couldnt anymore, but then it was followed by another one, and another one. Her voice was almost gone but she kept going. She was gripping at head, continiously screaming. It caught the attention of the entire prison. Loki walked up as close as possible to Dahlia, looking at the guards and waving for them to check up on her.

Dahlia's screams turned into sobs, and she slammed her fist into the wall, repeatedly. It hurt, a lot, but she kept going anyway. The guards just stood outside of her cell, staring at her as if they had shit for brains.

"Do something!" Loki commanded them, but the guards just shushed Dahlia, who had by then already lost her voice either way. She slowly sat down on her knees in front of the wall, knocking her head into it while still sobbing. Her hair was covering her face, and Loki was still watching her. "She's hurting herself." Loki yelled at the guards, but they all started walking back to where they'd previously been standing.

Dahlia stayed like this for at least 30 minutes, Loki was sitting as close as he could without touching the wall, also on the floor, trying to talk to her. Things like 'Dahl, please listen to me-' and 'Dahlia, look at me-'

He stayed begging her for the entire duration, until she eventually stopped, falling back and laying on her back. She was looking at the ceiling, and her hair was laying around her, spread out on the floor. Tears were still actively running down her face, and she wrapped her arms around herself.

Loki didn't move from his position, still looking at Dahlia. "Dahl, look at me, please,"

Dahlia was shaking, a lot actually, but there was barely any sound coming out of her anymore, she had screamed it all out. She finally turned her head, looking at Loki while still laying on her back, her head still against the floor.

"You're going to be okay." Loki tried to convince her, and maybe even himself. Dahlia opened her mouth to respond, but only a sob came out. She shook her head, before turning her eyes back to the ceiling.

Loki didn't sleep that night. He stayed in the same spot, waiting for Dahlia to do anything to assure him he could sleep without worry. When it was almost morning, Dahlia shakily got up from the floor, got onto the bed, pulled the covers over her entire body, and stayed there.