You and Me

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Thor's heart stopped: "Maria!"

Thor's face was instantly one of dread as he dropped to one knee, gathering up Maria's body in his arms. His eyes scoured every inch of her with stark concern: her eyes were wide and distant, but glazed with a panic, her chest heaving with breaths. Thor could hear the air rasp from her lungs. She lay there helpless in his arms, hers flared uselessly to the sides.

And Thor didn't know what to do. His mind glazed with panic, every inch of him screaming that Maria was so evidently in pain. He wished he could take it all. He never wanted this.

She convulsed in his hold, but Thor's arms tightened around her, one hand moving to support her head as he cradled her.

"What do I do?" he breathed more to himself than to anyone else, his mind going completely blank with shock. Maria was ... oh gods, she was... the anger at his incompetence flared, his heart aching in his chest: "What do I do?!" growled viciously from his throat.

He heard the scrape of the goblet against the table and seconds later it was at his side. His arm at Maria's back readjusted quickly to free his hand behind her head, snatching up the goblet. He narrowly avoided sloshing the red liquid all over Maria's pristine wedding dress, but that was hardly his concern as he lifted the goblet to her lips, balancing it carefully. He held her firm against his chest to still her writhing body.

Maria wasn't aware of much... nothing much more than the burning. Every inch of her body seemed to tremble, to shake, an unnatural heat flooding through her. She couldn't bear it. And Thor had been wrong: it hurt!

She was completely helpless as the fire consumed her, and something more worrying began to sweep through. Shuddering began to take over as the heat simmered in her cells, and an icy, dark chill set in her body. This felt even worse. Now she just felt... dead. She could feel Thor holding her against him, but her mind was too filled with thoughts of pure pain and panic to even remember what he looked like.

She was dimly aware of a chill reach her lips.

Her eyes flickered and she longed to just pass out, to be spared suffering any more of this. Jerks jolted her body against Thor's. She wanted to reach for him, to cling to him... but she couldn't feel her fingers to do it.

"I'll make it go away, Maria." Thor's urgent voice breathed to her, his tone breaking. The cooled pressure on her lips started to shake. "I promise."

Her lips were open and waiting, hauling in shallow, harsh breaths. She wanted it to stop. She'd thought the heartless moment before their souls had sealed had been brutal, but this... no, this was much worse. This felt like she was being burned from within. She probably was, she remembered; the poison was killing every scrap of her mortality inside her.

Coward, she choked in her head, the very air she sucked into her chest feeling painful. The hateful thought passed through her mind, feeling her body start to violently shudder, like she was having a fit.

Still, she wouldn't take the thought back. Her eyes narrowed, hardening as she embraced the pain, trying to press her lips together bravely. She had to bear this; the whole kingdom was watching, her parents-in-law, Thor, her husband...she had to be strong for him, if nothing else. He wanted her to be alright. He was working to make her better. Somehow... she didn't have the senses to know for sure, but surely Thor wouldn't just be letting her suffer.

She could feel her body shuddering, more than just her own convulsions and realised that it was Thor, the arms encasing her shaking her, as if trying to shake her lightly back to life. Then she heard him; heard him cry.