The Lost Princess of Asgard

Part II : Chapter XXXIII

           "Stop this, Astryd. You can stop this before it gets to worse." A tiny voice in her mind said. Her nails gripped Loki's ankle tightly, digging through his leather boots and grazing his flesh. She knew the voice was right, but as much as she tried to put a stop to this, she couldn't. Another voice in her head wouldn't allow it.

       "We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don’t know what it does. Do you want to find out?” Phil questioned as he pressed a button and the gun turned on, flashing in a bright orange color.

 

          “Phil, no!” Astyrd warned, but she was too late. In a matter of seconds, Loki appeared right behind Phil and violently stabbed Phil's back with his scepter.

 

            “No!” Thor and Astryd cried out.

        Thor pounded heavily against the glass wall, and both Astryd's jaw and heart dropped in horror. 

           The flashback faded from her mind, but the emotions she felt at Phil's death didn't. Anguish, fury, disappointment, sorrow, and loss overwhelmed her causing the cuffs around Astryd's wrist to abruptly snap in half, leaving her wrists bare and free. Loki's eyes widened in realization as he stared up at Astryd in horror. "Astryd, don-"

             "You killed Phil." Astryd growled, too blinded by her anger and loss.

            

         "No. Don't do it. This is not you." The voice, the same one who tried to stop her before, pleaded. She recognized it as her own voice. Her cruel demeanor faltered and she found herself staring at Loki blankly, in a confused manner. She was confused and lost, but it only lasted for a short moment.

         "Go on. Kill him like he did so with Phil. Make him suffer like Phil did." The other voice, the dark voice, in her head said. The image of Loki stabbing Phil resurfaced, messing around with Astryd's head. She wanted no more than to comply to the voice. It's what Loki deserves, she told herself.             

        Turning back to Loki, she hovered over him as he lay on the floor. She gripped Loki's wrist roughly. Her skin was an icy white, different from its usual pale blue color and it contrasted against Loki's. At her touch, Loki's skin color began to change as well. They both watched in awe as his skin changed into its original frost giant color. Red eyes replaced his blue ones and they pierced into her, trying to plead with her. "Astryd-"

        She wavered her hand over his mouth, forcing him to shut up by sealing his lips with her magic. This terrified him and brought a sick smile to her face. He truly did not know what she was capable of.

         "Do you know how much pain you caused Phil?" Astryd demanded, raising his wrist and bending it towards him. The bone snapped and Loki let out a muffled scream. She twisted her own hand, aiming it towards his chest as if he were a flexible doll. She used her free hand to carress Loki's face in a taunting manner, tracing the eleaborate designs on his Jotun face. 

        She's never seen Loki in his frost giant form in real life, but from her visions and knowledge, she knows what special qualities frost giants possess. Fixing her eyes onto his broken wrist, she forced it to turn into a sharp, thick shard of ice just like their hands always do when in battle.