Krystal

15

The next morning, I can tell that Loki definitely hadn't slept all night. How could he possibly hope to with that collar still around his neck and no bed left to lay on?

I notice once I sit up how much tidier his cell is now he'd obviously spent the entire night organising the mess inside it.

"Busy night I see?"

"I did not have much else to do".

"You should've woken me up. I could've kept you company".

"You needed the rest, you are still healing".

Soon after, the same guards as yesterday come back in like they do every damn morning.

"Bathing time!"

This time they take Loki away alone, most likely due to what they believed had happened between us yesterday.

As soon as he's gone, I watch while Skurge enters his cell and begins kicking the now organised piles all over his cell.

"Stop that!" I shout at him.

"Just putting him in his place, miss. There is no need to worry yourself".

"I need to use the bathroom".

Fortunately for me, Skurge is still a complete moron and he comes walking into my cell to put my collar on himself.

"OBEY ME".

"How can I help you, miss?"

Jackpot.

"Go clean up that mess you've just made before the prisoner comes back".

He does so immediately to the point that Loki wouldn't even notice anything had happened while he was gone.

When the other guards do finally bring him back from his bath, he looks disheveled and I even notice blood coming from his nose.

"Your turn" one guard tells me while I continue to look over at Loki, who's keeping his head down.

A servant arrives and shoves my hamper through a gap and they pass me a collar through it as well. I really hope this will work.

"It won't lock?"

"What?" the guard asks me.

"The collar? It won't lock at the back".

These people really are stupid, because one of them fully opens the front of my cell so they can try to fix it for me. I'm honestly amazed they even manage to keep a single prisoner captive in here for more than a day.

"FREEZE".

They all remain perfectly in place as I run out of my cell to steal one of the devices they use to open them. Once I'm inside of Loki's cell, he looks like he doesn't know what to say.

"What are you doing? What if you get caught?"

"Sorry. I just wanted to make sure you're okay. What did they do to you?"

"Just another punishment. Do not worry yourself, little witch".

I move his wet hair away from his face to take a closer look at his nose, but he moves back. It's like he isn't used to any physical contact that doesn't involve him being the one to instigate it.

"It's okay I just want to take a look".

"Why? Do you care?"

"I don't, but you don't deserve all of this either. I should just tell Thor the truth so they'll stop hurting you".

"They will do far worse to you if they discover what you did, or if you were to get caught right now".

"What's life without a little risk?"

"Why did you tell me you wanted to die?"

"What?" I ask once I remember what I'd said.

"I asked you if you wanted to die and you said yes. Why?"

"That's a story for another day".

"Perhaps that can be the 'favour' I ask for? I want to know everything there is to know about you, even about that scar of yours".

"It isn't exactly a scar".

"Is it not?"

"It's a brand. The mark of a witches curse".

"Is that why you are seeking revenge in Hel?"

I hesitantly confess the truth to him while I continue to wipe the blood from his face, even though I know I shouldn't.

"Yes".

"What is the curse?"

"We'll definitely save that conversation for another time. I should go".

I close his cell back up and place the device back in the guards pocket.

"FORGET" I tell the guards.

They all begin to move again, with the one in my cell successfully fastening the collar around my neck.

"These locks can be tricky sometimes" he tells me naively.