Loki's Pain

Chapter Fourty-Three- Unexpected Confrontation

Loki watched Ash with fearful eyes, and his heart twisted in pain when Ash's eyes simply glided past him without the slightest hint of recognition. But his fear wasn't for himself. His fear was only that Ash would never be healed, his heart and soul lost to his changed body and mind. He wanted to scream out, to shout, for any being that was listening and had the ability...to bring Ash back to himself,  even if the price was his own life or soul.

"Oh, no. The cost should not be anything so dire." A British male's voice suddenly spoke from somewhere near Loki's elbow, startling him so that it took a few more moments before the meaning sunk in. Loki looked down at him, the look in his eyes demanding that the man explain himself. 'Xavier?,' Loki thought to himself, struggling to remember this man, feeling as if it has been decades since they last met, 'Seems arrogant...'

"I once could have said the same of you." The man responded, leaving Loki's eyes to widen as he realized the man was reading his thoughts. Narrowing his eyes again as he glared at Xavier in response, rage sparked to life on Loki's face. "Get out of my head, you parasite!" Loki hissed at him, rage and fear competing in both his head, and his heart. "You have no right!! My mind and thoughts are mine, I won't let anyone take them from me again! GET OUT!!!" Loki could feel Xavier's mind in his head, fumbling around while trying to calm him down, but the more Xavier did, the more terrified Loki became, until Loki was shouting at the top of his lungs.

Everyone else in the hall went silent, their heads swiveling to look at the pair of them. Ash, and his meal was forgotten amid the distraction. It wasn't until a pale blur barrelled past and tackled Xavier to the floor that they remembered the newly dangerous mutant they had been trying to to corral.

Ash had him pinned beneath him in seconds, one sharply clawed hand was wrapped tightly around his throat and pressed him into the cold tile of the floor. Ash's lips curled back from his sharp teeth as he snarled. A deep, menacing rumble vibrated his chest as he glared down at Xavier. 'You dare!!!' Xavier suddenly heard the loud thought in his mind, a strange agony blooming behind his eyes as the feeling of sharp teeth seemed to snap shut in his head, 'He is mine! I am his! No one trespasses in his mind but ME!!!!' Ash's hand tightened around his throat as the dark voice growled thru his head, and it was only then that Xavier realized that he was hearing Ash. The threats were not spoken aloud, but that only made them all the more terrifying to him. He only contemplated trying to block Ash out for a second before giving up. Xavier could feel the shear power behind Ash's menacing thoughts, and understood instinctively that he was completely outmatched. Ash's mind could roll his under and wipe him clean with a mere thought, and Xavier would be unable to do anything to stop him. Staring up into eyes filled with a raw, primal possession, Xavier did his best to convey his regret and apologies before Ash's grip on his throat might cause him to pass out.

Still, Ash waited until Xavier's sight had dimmed to a mere speck of light, his consciousness a tiny shivering mass in the darkness, before finally releasing his hold. Xavier gasped for air, his lungs having been painfully starved for oxygen, as Ash slowly climbed to his feet.

Ash was turning to look over his shoulder at Loki when a dark blue body slammed into him, sending them both flying towards a wall before they disappeared in a puff of sulfur-scented smoke. They both went tumbling down a rocky slope on the other side. Ash shoved the man off of him as they fell. "Get off me, you idiot!" Ash growled out as he did, his voice now a deep bass rumble in his chest, "What the hell!!? I was protecting Loki you asshole!"

When he finally stopped tumbling towards the bottom of the hill, he took a second to assess himself. He felt a few cuts and bruises, but seemed otherwise okay. So he initially breathed a sigh of relief, thinking it wouldn't be too difficult to make it back home. But as he lay there he glanced up, and sucked in a fear-filled breath.