Between the Lines

This Dangerous Weapon (TW)

   A soft chuckle was the response before a light came on as a rope ladder was dropped down to me. "Come on out, Asgardian. I believe we can talk now."

   I climbed from the well, my body dripping, atrophied muscles shaking as I worked hard to climb up the length of the ladder, my simple yet thick shackles somehow feeling multitudinous as I moved. I collapsed against the grated floor at the top, my legs still hanging behind me against the slick metal of the well. Before me stood a pale man in a blue leather robe trimmed in gold; a strange golden contraption covering his chin and mouth like a cage. I stared at the man, noticing that what I could see of his face seemed burnt beneath his hood and blinder. He threw a thin, mouth eaten blanket at me before urging me to follow. I did so without question, my chains still clinking together in a soft melodious way as I moved, following him down the corridor to a room with several tables.

   "Sit," the man said, his voice raspy as he gestured with his six-fingered hand before snapping his fingers as another being dressed similarly to him stepped forward presenting me with a plate of exotic fruits, or so it looked. I did not care, I was so famished, having nearly forgotten what food looked and tasted of. "Have something to drink, Asgardian," he said as I was given a glass of wine, juice from the strange pear-looking fruit stripped in blue and a pale yellow running down my chin as I gratefully accepted the drink.

   The man watched as I ate, gently urging me to slow down, to not eat myself ill. I rolled my eyes at him, ignoring his suggestions as he began to ask me about the Tesseract. "I already told Ronan all that I know," I snapped, bitterly.

   "Yes, and you have done well. Your knowledge will benefit us greatly. What I wish to know now is whether or not you are willing to claim it for us."

   I turned my eyes to his grinning face. "You... know where it is?" The man nodded, crossing his arms as he sat beside me. "Tell me where it is."

   "Ah, so quick to demand answers when you give little in return. Is this an agreement then?"

   "An agreement of what?"

   "To serve my master, to receive real power."

   "I am real power," I smirked, cockily watching as the man scowled.

   He reached into his robe, pulling out a golden staff with two dangerously curved blades surrounding a softly glowing blue crystal. I stared at the scepter; a grape held to my mouth as I watched the man. I was not free, and this talk, this meal had a price. "You know what this is?"

   "It is not the Tesseract, that is for certain."

   "You are correct. Do you know what it is?"

   I shook my head, trying to maintain my demeanor of aloofness, yet inside I trembled with fear. I thought of the golden giant who could whisk me away, save me from this Hel; I watched as the man rose, the glowing scepter in his six-fingered, gnarled skin as I silently pleaded once more for the golden giant in my memory to save me. As the man came to stand before me, knocking me from my seat, a sickening realization fell over me, though perhaps I had known this very thing for far longer than I had wanted to acknowledge. No one was coming... No one cared... My pleading words held no more meaning to those that should have already come for me than those of the begging kitchen girl with wolf ears that I had ignored. I was a monster, a blue-skinned beast of nightmares beneath this façade; I did not deserve to return to Asgard, to be saved. As I felt the tip of the blade touch my temple, I thought of her one final time, pulling deep from my memory as I focused on the one thing no one could take from me even in death.

   "Have you finally accepted how broken you are, Asgardian? Accepted that no one is coming for you? He can gift you a family, a place of honor amongst His favorite children. All you have to let me do is take these pieces of your being, such little broken pieces, and stitch them back together in a new pattern; a stronger, more beautiful mosaic." I felt as if my heart was being squeezed, as though I was drowning in fire and ice simultaneously as my mind blanked and then shattered.

   Voices... so many voices. A medium-pitched feminine voice that carried a great deal of wisdom; a deep masculine one, soft-spoken yet sure. Two more men, one old and one young, both alike in timber and ferocity, their voices giving way to the sound of young boys laughing... A young woman's voice... a beautiful lilting alto that made the darkness give way to rain, a white bird soaring through my mind as that voice overpowered the others as she called my name, the sound building to a scream as my vision returned.

   I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the light around me as I lifted myself from the floor on my elbow, my free arm outstretching as I tried to block the light, my chains rattling as I moved. "I think we can remove these now," the man said with a grin, his broken teeth slimy beneath the cage he wore over his face.

   It was as if a weight had been lifted from my body as the chains fell away. I could move so much easier, could have even run away but where would I have run to? I looked toward the hall, there were no guards, no one to stop me... If I could take the scepter from him or secure a blade, I could fight my way through the mazes of floating grating, I could find a way out. Even if I died in the process, at least I could still be reunited with Mother, Thor... Thor... I began to shake as I thought of my brother, of the shadow he cast. Images of our differing childhood overwhelmed me as I watched again and again as the golden-haired child with blue eyes, the spitting image of the father who favored him above all else was praised and forgiven while I received nothing but chiding and punishment. How even as a young man who showed far more promise of being a well-rounded and generous king, I was looked down upon despite having been told I was born to be a king just as he had.

   A cold rage began to grow within me as memories of his arrogance plagued me, overriding my every accomplishment by his lesser actions; how even the love I had received had been hand-me-downs compared to what he had been showered in. I shook, tears falling from my face as I stood on the precipice between the room where this new, crooked man had brought me, removing the shackles that lay at my feet and the corridor that opened to the maze hiding my freedom on the other side. I wanted revenge. I wanted to know what made him so worthy, or rather, what made me so unworthy. Was I simply destined to eternally remain in someone else's shadow, was that the only purpose I served to Asgard, to Father... Odin... Not my father. He had never been my father any more than Laufey had.

   I began to wonder as I stood there, shaking in my weakness as I wiped at my tears and nose feeling every bone within my wrist as I did, if my only purpose was to serve as someone's pawn, to be a foil for someone else to be thrown away when I was of no more use. No, no that could not be... I had made the choice, I had squashed the Jotun uprising, and I had been the only one clever enough to kill Laufey, to almost kill Thor. I had been the only one capable of showing Odin how ill-fit Thor was, had been the only one to see Asgard's true potential so why did I need to abide by the will of lesser creatures? I could shine on my own... I would shine on my own.

    Turning back around to face the hooded man, I rose from the frail, pathetic flesh of my path and stood before him a man ready to do what was needed to achieve my glorious purpose. "My life was spared for a reason... To show Asgard and all of the Nine exactly what they failed to all these years. I will show them, I will show them all... Now, point me to the tesseract."