A Gods Favor

Confinement

Not a moment after the door closed Elora lurched forward out of Loki's grasp.

"You should have let me go!" Her glare was hot enough to melt steel and Loki's face turned up in confusion.

"To the dungeons to fight other prisoners for a mad man's entertainment? Why would I allow that?"

"No," she groaned at the soreness in her shoulder when she threw her hands up in frustration. The adrenaline was ebbing and all her aches and pains were making themselves known so she surveyed the room for a place to sit as she continued to berate him. "Back on Midgard. I told you to let me go. Hela was weak, she'd just left millennia of imprisonment. If we had worked together we could have stopped her but instead you were thinking of self-preservation and ran and now for all we know she's made it to Asgard." A hand began to glow faintly as she rubbed at the joint and plopped onto a chair raising her skirts to assess the rest of the damage from her fall.

"El, she crushed Mjolnir like it was nothing. She would have killed us!"

"You don't know that," she cursed under her breath at the large gash that was leaking blood down her leg, a piece of dark, dirty scrap metal embedded in it. "And even if she had she still wouldn't have been able to get to Asgard, where she would become unbeatable. The others on Midgard..." Her words were cut off by a hiss as her fingers failed to grasp the metal and it seemed to sink deeper into the wound.

"Let me," Loki came to kneel before her and reached to pull the object out but she waved him off.

"I don't need your help."

He let out a dry laugh. "Are you really that angry, that stubborn that you'd rather pull that out yourself? Your hands are already slick with your own blood, you won't be able to grip it."

Without a word and without looking away from him she ripped a piece of her torn skirt off and wrapped it over the end of the protruding section before yanking it out. The metal clattered to the floor and blood began to flow from the wound more quickly.

"Well, that answers that." He stood and placed one hand on his hip, the other gesturing around the room. "I'm going to get you something to eat and some new clothes. Give you time to heal yourself and let you cool down. We can talk when I return. There's a bath through that door if you want to clean up while I'm gone."

He turned on his heel and stalked to the door muttering curses to himself as he went.

-

Elora cursed as she looked down at her ruined corset while she waited for the bath to fill. She had only two left and the other one was on Midgard with the rest of the things she'd thought she would be able to pick up later. Now she had no clue where she was with no idea how far from anywhere else she might be. She didn't know if Thor and Hela had made it to Asgard but she figured she should try and contact Yrsa and make sure they were okay before reaching out to Stephen to see if he could figure out where she was and portal her out.

The small satchel she carried with her amplifiers had blessedly not fallen from her pocket when she crashed on this Hel planet so she opened it and dumped the contents into the bath. With the disc on her neck dulling her senses she figured she could use all the help she could get and water was an excellent conductor in a pinch.

With a heavy sigh she glanced longingly one last time at the pile of her ruined clothes before sliding into the welcoming heat of the bath and let her eyes gloss over.

-

Loki took his time in gathering the things he'd set out to get. Both to let Elora cool and himself. He couldn't believe she'd thought he had been acting out of self-preservation. True, when he'd seen the hammer fall to the ground in pieces he was terrified but his first thought had been to get her to safety, even after everything they'd been through. When he'd seen her rise from the chair in the gown from his dream the hope that had zapped through him had reignited his weary soul and he didn't plan on letting it go out again. No, he'd had the crown he'd wanted so desperately but it had left him unfulfilled, it was missing something. It was missing her, no, he was missing her. But she was here now, with him, and in the week since he'd landed he'd learned people did not leave Sakaar. While he knew he had to figure a way off this planet eventually, he may as well take advantage of his current circumstances.

"El," he called out when the door slid closed behind him and he began to scan the room. His suite was large but the floor plan was open, everything all in one room apart from the bathroom. When he didn't see her he dropped the bundles he'd been carrying on a table and headed for the door across the room and knocked. "Elora, I know you're angry with me but I brought you clothes. Do you want me to leave them at the door or toss them in for you?"

He waited but the only thing he heard was the sound of running water. "By the door it is then. Don't dawdle, the food will get cold." He took a step back, intending to grab a set of clothes but the small splash of water beneath his boot made him freeze. A slow trickle of liquid was making its way under the bathroom door. He began to pound on the, calling her name. She'd been fine when he left, a bit bruised and battered but fine, and she was healing herself. But she wasn't answering him now and his heart was in his throat. Something must have happened, maybe she'd fallen and hit her head, maybe the Grandmaster had changed his mind. He had no clue, he only knew that the damned door before him had seen its last day when he stepped back and twisted, thankful that the interior doors were hinged and not sliding as it flew open at the force of his kick and he rushed in. The tub was overflowing and he could see slight streaks of pink in the water as it poured out over the white marble.

Loki shot forward, careful not to slip in the growing pool on the ground. Reaching the side of the bath he looked down to find Elora fully submerged, convulsing slightly, as blood from her nose swirled above her. A chorus of no's ran through his head as he bent and pulled her up, pushing her sodden hair back from her face, calling her name.

"El, El please, wake up!" Her eyes were open but they were clouded over by a gray smoke that flashed with blues and oranges as she continued to shake. It was reminiscent of when she would get visions or scry but he'd never seen the colors before and her pupils, beneath the clouding her pupils bounced back and forth, unable to settle and something hit him. He looked around the bath, at the water around her and on the ground. Bits of bone, herbs, and flower petals danced over the ground. She had been trying to project, to contact Yrsa most likely, and she'd been using the water as an amplifier. Loki himself could not project across worlds without the use of Gungnir but she'd come to his dreams from Midgard, it made sense she would be able to accomplish this as well but something had clearly gone wrong.

Loki slipped his hands under her knees and lifter her from the bath, cursing the slick floor for making his movements slow as he headed for the main room where he crossed quickly to the bed and laid her down and covered her before flicking his hands to magically dry her. Adrenaline and fear still pulsing through him he sat down and ran a hand through her dark tresses, directing her to look at him before he shook her lightly. "Nin emel, come back to me, please."

Slowly the shaking stopped and her pupils settled as the clouds cleared from her eyes, their normal, familiar pale blue returning. Elora looked around slowly taking in the room, the bed, and Loki, face full of terror before her as she remembered what happened.

"I can't reach them." Her voice has quavered as tears began to roll down her cheeks at the realization she had no way to speak to her princess, to find out what was going on...to get off this world.