Golden Horns and Red Thorns

Stable Instability

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LOKI

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     There was no night or day in the Soul World, only an orange sky and a deep orange sky. I had no idea how much time had passed while we were all trapped in here. To be honest, I had no idea how anything here worked. 'Was time faster or slower in the stone? Was there time at all? Would we age and die in here or would we be stuck in a loop of immortality until we all go crazy and start killing each other off? Could you even kill in here?'

     To say I was terrified for any of my questions to be answered, was an understatement.

     There was no temperature here. It felt stale and stagnant and the water at your feet felt lukewarm. It was comfortable, but it quickly became suffocating. You began to crave a change in anything. Damn it, if we were to all suddenly catch on fire, we would be relieved, because at least we would feel.

     As far as I knew, the sky had turned a deep orange three times, and that's not even to say that it signified "night". There was no sun, no moon, just a dull orange glow. If we ever got out of here, and I were to see the color orange, I would surely have a psychotic break... Again.

You feel a sense a stability, being in such a... well... stable environment. But the calmness of it - the quiet. It sure had a way of making you feel unstable.

     My reflection in the water showed just how puffy my eyes had grown. I don't think I've cried like this since I was an infant. Sleep didn't come to me, the others had grown exhausted after the second deep orange sky and unwillingly fell into a short slumber. I was laying on my back, my hair sprawled out behind me as I looked into the nothingness.

     'Would we go hungry in here and starve to death? Is this water drinkable? If we were to die, would our bodies rot? Of course they would rot. One way or another at least, the water would surely soak into our bodies and make us become-'

     "Loki." Wanda whispered, the movement of the water as she sat up to look at me made my hair sway. It felt nice.

     "What?" I muttered back. I felt like if I raised my voice the sky would cave in and the blanket of orange would suffocate me.

     "Try to quiet your thoughts please." Her voice was still shaky.

     "...Sorry." I forgot she could read minds as well. Her and I were the only ones who could, other than Mantis, and it wasn't any more comforting to hear everyone's minds going haywire with theories on how we would die here, or if we were going to die at all.

     I sat up, my raven hair suctioning to my back and my neck, a stream of water falling from my strands. I rubbed my eyes, slicking my hair back even more and took a look around at everyone. Some had discarded the suits that they were wearing.

Sam's wings sat far off from everyone, along with his eye wear and his guns and knives. James Barnes' weapons laid next to him - he was constantly ready for a fight, despite being in a state of nothingness. Him and James sat cross-legged facing each other, talking quietly. Steve was mentioned multiple times. James cried. 

T'challa made his suit disappear, his necklace dangling in the water as he laid on his stomach shirtless. He was tracing small patterns in the water like it was the most interesting thing he's ever seen - and at this point, it was.

     Mantis laid with who I came to know as Groot tucked by her side, her antennas glowing softly as she slept. The man who wore the red leather jacket - Peter Quill - had taken it off and sunk it down to the bottom of the shallow water, and lifted it back up again, and then repeating, not caring about the damage the material would have. The man next to him, Drax, was watching him do this with a sad smile on his face. Stephen's cloak was hovering off by Sam's wings as he lay with his eyes closed, his arms propped beneath his head.