Loyalty and Mischief (WIP)

Chapter 33 - Shattered into shards by the loss of you

Whispering voices awoke Sigyn from a restless sleep. She groaned against the pain in her body. Her hands went up to her belly, wanting to bid her daughter good morning, as she always did. Yet her abdomen no longer had that protruding curve she'd grown so accustomed to. 

Wh-What's happened? Where...?

Sigyn sat up with a jolt as she remembered. Mephisto, returning Loki's soul, the water turning red at her feet... Her baby!

"No, no." She wildly looked about her, trying to find her daughter. "Where is she? Where is my baby?"

Two hands gripped her shoulders. Dainty feminine hands belonging to the silver-haired Elf Queen. "Sigyn, easy, do not strain yourself. You need your rest. Come, lie down."

She tried to push Sigyn back on the bed, but she wouldn't budge and gripped Aelsa's wrists. "You were there; you know what happened. Aelsa, tell me where my baby is. Aelsa, please!"

Another pair of hands took hold of Sigyn from behind. They restrained her, giving Aelsa the chance to pry herself free. Sigyn turned, looking straight into Frigga's sorrowful eyes. 

"My dear," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."

A haze fell over Sigyn. It couldn't be true. She'd been rushed to the healers; she'd delivered her baby! Her daughter had to be here! 
Yet with every second that passed, Sigyn realised she wasn't. There'd been no cries. Not from her baby, anyway. Only her own. And... Loki's. She remembered how he'd held her. Remembered his tears.  

"No," she whispered and shook her head in disbelief. "No, i-it cannot be."

But Frigga's own grief was written in her expression. She tried to hold Sigyn close, but was pushed away. Sigyn stumbled from her bed, forcing her way past Aelsa. Her knees buckled, and she fell to the ground. The Elf Queen was at her side in mere seconds, but she slapped her hands away. "No, let me go! I need my baby!"

The door slammed open. Sigyn raised her head. Tears fell from her eyes as Loki rushed toward her. She reached for him. "Loki, they... they won't tell me where she is. They won't give her to me."

He dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around her. In a broken voice, he said, "Sigyn, don't, I beg of you."

She peered over his shoulder. Rúna stood on the threshold. Light shone from behind her, but Sigyn could still discern a little bundle in her arms. She struggled at the sight, but her husband held her too tightly. It was impossible to move. 

"Loki, let go," she demanded.

"Sigyn, please..."

"No, let me go! I need my baby! Please, give me my baby!"

"Rúna, go, now!"

"NO! Rúna, bring her to me, please!"

The handmaiden was swept away by Fandrall before she could set one foot into the healing room. Sigyn pleaded as she cried and thrashed against Loki's body. "NO! RÚNA! Loki, please, let me have my baby! You have to give her to me! You have to!"

"Sigyn... s-stop..."

"GIVE ME MY BABY!"

Loki's hold weakened. Sigyn believed he was finally allowing her to go after Rúna and put a hand on his chest so she could shove him off. That's when she felt his heartbeat. She froze. "Loki, your heart... Wh-Why is it...?"

He slumped forward into her arms.

"Loki, no!" Sigyn laid him down on the ground. His skin turned ashen, and his chest was barely rising anymore. "No, no, you cannot do this! You cannot die again! LOKI, DAMN YOU, NO!"