Unbroken

Chapter 81

Chapter 81:
Loki tried not to tell anyone about the pain he was in, but it was starting to become obvious.
It had been three days since loki realized he was infected, the pain grew more and more every day, at first it was bearable, it was just a subtle dull ache that he could ignore, but it was growing into an excruciating sharp pain that made him feel sick. By now he was barely able to stand straight.
"Loki, do you need to rest?" Thor asked him as they walked. They were closer to the fortress now, but Loki was afraid they wouldn't make it in time. Thor was noticing Loki's condition getting worse, he was pale and his face was shiny with sweat, and he slurred his words together.
"I'm fine" he said "I just haven't been feeling very well for a few days" he added. He hoped they could make it to the fortress soon, he wanted to get this thing out of him, and he knew that it would start getting more aggressive pretty soon.
"Yeah I could tell. Do you want to stop and rest? You look terrible" Thor said. Lokis face was pale and sunken in from not eating, but he shook his head.
"No, I'd.... I'd rather just get to the fortress as soon as possible" loki told him breathlessly, but he was staggering his steps, and clutching his stomach, and he was clearly in a Lot of pain.
"Loki sit down, something is wrong and you need to take care of it" Thor told him. Trying to guid him to sit down.
"Thor I'm.... I'm-" he was cut off by a unbearable sharp pain that shot through his stomach. He screamed in pain and keeled over, clutching his stomach and feeling his head spin from pain.
"We need some help over here!" Thor shouted to the soldiers as he knelt down to See was was happening to Loki. Some of the soldiers gathered around, a few of them who had basic medical training rushed over and tried to get Loki on his back.
"What happened?" One of the soldiers asked Thor. Loki was writhing in pain and couldn't speak, but he knew he'd have to tell them what was happening... and how to fix it.
"I don't know. He hasn't been feeling well for a few days and then he randomly collapsed" Thor told the soldiers.
Loki took a few deep breaths, trying to put his focus on his words instead of his pain.
"I'm- I'm a host" Loki said, sweat dripping down his face. "It- it's in my stomach, and-" he was cut off by another jab of pain and he tried to bite down a scream "Get it out" he said, trying not to pass out from the pain.
"Infected with what? What is it?" The soldier asked. There was no way to take something out of they didn't know what it was.
"It's- it's a parasite that looks like a Worm. It's in my stomach, and-" a mixture of pain and fear washed over his pale clammy face. "I only know of one way to remove it.." he said, his voice was weak, he didn't want to relive this, he didn't want to have to do this again, but now he had to, there were no other options.
"How?" Thor asked. Loki reached a shaking hand into his belt and pulled out a dagger and shoved it toward Thor. Thor took the dagger from Loki, but wasn't sure he understood what he was supposed to do. Loki swallowed hard.
"You need to cut me open... and pull it out" Loki told him. Thor looked at him in disbelief.
"You- are you crazy? I can't just cut you open like that" Thor said. There was no way this was a good plan.
"You have to" Loki croaked, but it was clear that he was regretting his own words.
"If you do this it could kill him" one of the medical soldiers said "he could bleed out, or get a worse infection, or go into shock from the pain he'd be in" the soldier told Thor, greatly trying to discourage this course of action.
"If you cut it out I might die.." loki panted "but if you don't, my death is guaranteed... it will kill me... and soon" He said "trust me, I don't want to do this either... but- there's nothing else to do" he added. He looked scared, Thor didn't know if he was scared of dying, or scared of what Thor was about to do, but Thor decided that loki knew what he could take, and they should do what Loki says.
"Alright, We'll do it, but we'll be careful" Thor said. He immediately started giving orders; he told some of the soldiers to get their mats laid out so Loki didn't have to lay in the dirt,he told one of them to get some water boiling so they could disinfect the dagger Loki told Thor to use, and then told them to sharpen the knife until it couldn't get any sharper.
Loki kept praying that something would happen so they didn't have to do this. He kept wishing that help would appear out of nowhere, or that suddenly the pain would stop for no reason, but none of that happened, he just watched everyone get ready to repeat one of the most painful experiences of his life. After a few minutes the soldiers had everything ready, Thor came over to loki and put an arm around his shoulders to help him up to get him to the mat. Loki groaned in pain when Thor stood him up, and Thor had to nearly drag him over to the spot they cleared. Thor put loki down and made him lay on his back. Thor knelt next to Loki, the dagger in his hand, ready to cut open his brothers stomach and rip out some parasite. The idea made him sick, he always did everything possible to make Lokis life easier, and comfortable, but now he's going to be the one torturing him.
Lokis breathing was uneven and strained, and when he saw Thor with the knife, he started hyperventilating and felt like he was going to have a nervous breakdown. At least when Ilkay did it he didn't know what was coming, but now he had to deal with the anticipation. Thor could see Lokis entire body shaking from fear, and writhing from pain.
"Hold him down" he told the four soldiers who were the closest to them. If he was going to do this he needed to do it right. The soldiers looked confused, that just seemed cruel.
"Sir?" One of them asked.
"If he moves while I'm doing this, it could cause further damage. I need him to keep still but I don't expect him to be able to, so You four need to hold him down so he can't move" Thor said again, looking angry that they questioned it.
The soldiers nodded and got down to hold Loki still. Thor moved Lokis shirt up so he could see what he was doing, he wasn't sure where he should cut, but then he saw the exceptionally thick scar on his stomach and figured that it was a mark of when Loki had been through this before. Thor took a deep breath and put the edge of the blade on Lokis stomach.
"I'm so sorry. I'll try to make it fast" Thor told Loki, then put pressure on the dagger and cut open Lokis stomach. Loki screamed in agony, he felt the cold blade of the knife, then the hot pain of the cut. a hot searing pain washed over Him.
Some of the soldiers gathered around and tried to mop up the blood that was gushing from the wound Thor had just created. Loki felt Thor digging the knife deep into is stomach, opening him up to extract the parasite, he was soon drenched in blood and sweat. Thor finally had a large enough incision so he could reach his hand in.
"Stay awake Loki, just stay awake.." Thor said as he reached into Lokis stomach. Loki screamed again, his voice becoming ragged and rough, it was hard to breath, he felt like he was going to die right there, if not from blood loss, then certainly from pain. He tried to stay awake, he tried to think of things to calm his mind, but nothing worked. He screamed without restraint, the soldiers worked hard to keep him down and keep him still. This was his pain, his old pain, the pain he'd lived with for a thousand years with Laufey, the pain that made him afraid to speak out of turn, the pain that pain that made his life hell. Now he was feeling it again, and he almost forgot he ever left Jotunhiem; His mind went back to the dungeon, like he never left.
"Please- please stop. Laufey please" Loki begged, just wanting it to end. Thor felt sick, causing loki this much pain was bad enough, but loki just called him laufey... in this moment, loki couldn't distinguish between Thor and laufey, and it was the worst feeling thor could remember.
The soldiers knew he was becoming delirious, he'd lost so much blood and was in so much pain that his brain was reaching its limit.
"Thor you need to hurry up, I don't know how much more of this he can take" one of the soldiers said as he tried to mop up the blood, but the towel was so soaked that it didn't do much. Thor could barely hear the soldier above Lokis ragged screams and groans, but he did his best to hurry. Seeing Loki in this much pain was horrible, and knowing that he was the cause only made Thor feel worse.
"I'm trying Loki, just hold on" Thor said to try and calm loki down, but it didn't do anything. Loki still cried out in agony, and if the soldiers weren't holding him down, he wouldn't be able to keep still at all. Finally Thor found the creature that was inside Loki. He didn't waste a second, he felt it moving so he grabbed onto it and pulled as hard as he could, ripping the creature out of Loki. Loki arched his back as he cried out in pain once again, but at least it was over now.
The soldiers rushed around Loki to stop the bleeding and mend the wound as much as possible. Loki was still breathing hard and groaning in pain, but it wasn't quite as bad now. Thor cut the parasite in half to put an end to it, then went to try and calm Loki down while the soldiers tended to him.
"Hey, it's okay, You'll be okay, I promise" Thor said as he wiped his hands clean and kelt next to Loki. Loki flinched when Thor put his arm under Lokis shoulders and propped him up a little bit. Loki looked scared for a moment, then he remembered that it was only Thor and he relaxed. 
"I'm- it- I can't-" Lokis started stuttering.
"Shh it's okay. It's over now Alright?" Thor said. He knew Loki was trying to tell him how much pain he was in, but he couldn't think of any words. "I know it's hard, but try to calm your mind. Try to relax a little bit" Thor told him.
"If we hurry we can get him to the fortress and avoid stitching him up out here" one of the soldiers said as he finished wrapping up Loki's stomach to stop the bleeding.
"He won't bleed out? Even if we walk non stop it could still be another day before we get there" Thor told him. The soldier shook his head.
"I was able to stop the bleeding, so he's stable for now, but we need to get moving, and Loki can't walk" the soldier told Thor. Thor nodded.
"Alright, then let's move" he said, then carefully picked up Loki so they could get him to the fortress.