Ineffable- A Loki Fanfic

17

Conscious began to creep back into Loki and as he stirred he felt a soft hand glide over him. With all his time on Asgard he could tell it was a healing hand but he couldn't remember why he would need one. Loki was at peace and he let a lazy smile plaster across his face as he took in the life that was being given back to him. After a few minutes the hand went in front of his face and snapped him back into the present. With his memories now perfectly in place, he bottled upright and blinked at his healer.

"You have work to do." She smiled at him. It was a comforting smile but it didn't ease the knot in his chest.

"What happened ,where is s.."

"They took her away while you lay dying."

"Dying? Wait. Where did they take her?"

"Through the portals, she is beyond our protection now so it is your turn to save her. She sacrificed her life for yours. I'm not so sure she should have."

"Gee thanks." Loki rolled his eyes but softened almost immediately. "Truly, thank you for saving my life."

"Don't make me regret it."

"Right." Loki looked around cautiously, trying to adjust to his surroundings and figure out what to do next. Just then he heard gruff voices right outside the tent and moved to hide. The second they entered he was on them, their necks snapped within seconds of one another. Loki stood and breathlessly smoothed his hair out of his face, and a dangerous grin pulled at the edges of his mouth.

"You'll be wanting these then." Alna handed Loki two daggers. They weren't his but they were beautiful and perfectly balanced. He let them sit weightlessly in the palm of his open hand, admiring the intricacies marked along the blades. There was a tree etched along the length of each blade, the bark weathered with rose gold striations cut into them. Behind each was a semi circle and when we put the blades side by side, they formed a moon. He let out a dry laugh. 'Of course.'

"They hold just enough magic to counterbalance the protections in that place. You will be able to briefly use yours. Let's hope it's enough."

"I'll make it count." Then he was gone.

The air outside was heavy with rage and it fit well around him, pressing against his cold skin like battle armor. He could sense the presence of a time portal in one of the nearby huts and released a low chuckle from his chest as he made his way towards it. Many men tried to bring him down but Loki was unbothered. His glorious purpose, finally revealing itself to him, allowed him to swat them away like bothersome moths to his growing flame. Fringsnell was waiting for him at the door of the hut, a murderous grin played too confidently on his features.

"Your majesty." He cruelly jested. "Surely you don't think you will be leaving us without being retrain...."

Loki's hand shot out and cemented itself lovingly at Fringsnell's throat. The bruts eye bulged wildly out of his skull and his feet left the ground. It wasn't magic, but a new strength flowing in Loki he never would have thought possible. Now he didn't give it much thought as he stared back into the panicked face of the barbarian before him. There was a crack and Fringsnell crumpled to the ground dead.

Loki, emotionless, turned and walked into the hut.

*************

"I am TIRED OF THE LIES." Ravonna's hand slammed into the table. "Tell us where he is and let's just end all of this." She kept trying to sound angry and intimidating but it fell flat everytime. She was just as confused and tired as Clara but would have never admitted that.

"LIES?!" Clara was furious. Up until this point she had been able to stay calm and cocky in front of Ravonna, but she was now animated with rage.

"Lies?" She began again. "This place is nothing but lies. I had a life, we ALL had lives Ravona, even you! I had children!" Clara choked on the last word and it came out as a laugh.

"Well, I see you've already managed to begin replacing them so what does it matter?" Ravonna knew she had gone too far the moment the words fell through her lips. The air in the room grew stale and pricked at her skin.

"How dare you." Clara's voice brought the words to life, but they seemed to exist on a thread of their own choosing. Each syllable, hot with acid, wrapped a sticky tentacle around Ravonna's throat, choking her.

"Enough." She managed to spit. "Take her away."

Several armed minutemen gingerly took Clara from the room. They weren't sure what they had just witnessed but they knew it should have been impossible and none of them wanted to take a chance at pissing either of them off. So, they obeyed orders, but allowed Clara to carry herself from the room. Her laugh lingered in the air long after she was gone and Ravonna was left sitting at the edge of the table in complete denial. She sat, slowly stroking faint marks on her neck that had already begun to disappear.

*********

Clara was led down corridors she had never seen before until they reached a door, clearly they meant for her to step willingly inside. As it opened, she could immediately see it was familiar to her. Caught off guard she folded to the ground and began to cry. There was no more venom in her, only raw sadness. Those guarding her took this as a sign of their only chance to get the job done safely, and threw her on the bed inside before quickly slamming the door behind her.

"No. No. No! This is wrong. LET ME OUT!" Clara rushed the door but only managed to knock the wind out of her lungs. Gasping for breath she stood herself on shaky legs and slowly made her way around the room. It was an exact replica from her memories, the very room she had shared with her wife in her original timeline. The life she lost lay perfectly curated in front of her, a museum of cruel intentions.

Delicately she let herself explore this Hel. Her fingers softly glazed over the surface of the dresser, not even making a mark in the layer of dust caked on top. Her eyes cautiously danced from photo to photo until they fell on one in particular. It was one she had taken of both her children together. Her oldest, Eden, 5 years old, had his arm around his younger brother, Sage, who had only been 3 at the time. She had managed to capture her wfie, Billie, hiding just inside the frame, she was leaning on the door jam that led into their home, a giant smile on her face as she watched her boys tickle each other to pacify Clara's need for a sweet photo of them smiling together. They had drips of chocolate lining their chubby faces. It had been a hot Summer day she remembered, the ice cream truck had stopped at their house 30 minutes before she took this photo. It was a rare day when they could all be together and Clara had wanted to commemorate that moment. She could smell the sweet swelter of humid air that stuck to them all like honey, feel the heat of the sun that blissfully kissed her skin that day.

Carefully, Clara took the photo out of the frame with trembling fingers and placed it on her chest. Tears spilling out despite her eyes being clenched shut. Blindly she found the bed and curled herself into as tight a ball as she could. One hand trying desperately to press the photo into herself to plug up the massive hole in her heart and the other cradling her stomach searching for the life growing inside her. She was sure that chambers of her heart were dying, igniting and turning to soot, unable to contain the love she felt so surely for Billie, Loki, and all three of her littles ones.

Her tears fell freely as she tried to connect her two worlds and make sense of what had happened to her and what was going to happen to her. Eventually she fell asleep, but her nightmares were vivid and the screams she emitted made their way out into the real world around her, surrounding her in a blanket of black clouds.