[3] Just A Mortal Girl | Avallone the Avenger [DISCONTINUED]

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

This chapter is dedicated to my good friend @onceupon_a_riverdale [for some strange reason it won't let me link it, sorry]

As if they had been looking for my breaking point, I was allowed to eat the very next day. Or at least, I assumed it was the next day, judging by how hungry I was. It was impossible to tell the passage of time unless you were counting continuously.

If Phil had not been present, years might have passed, leaving Sif and I completely unaware. Time for immortals such as us was merely trivial. However, it meant so much more to Phil.

As I ate, I closed my eyes. The pain from yesterday's attempt still lingered in my fingertips and toes. If the motive was to make a lasting impression, it definitely worked.

I barely noticed when I finished and was shackled back to the machine. The same woman had returned and left just as the previous day. My mind was in a haze, trying not to lose itself completely, but keeping up a healthy negative imprint.

Time began to fast forward like playing a tape on a VCR machine. It must have been mere months that we were trapped, not years. Phil had not aged considerably, but his skin was beginning to produce large sores. If he did not move more, they would kill him.

My wrists were chaffed badly, not from struggling, but merely from being incapacitated day in and day out. Sif was not holding up well either.

I had all but given up completely. Though my hope for freedom was gone,  I silently wished every day that death would take us all.

Death took its time, but it did not visit us. I recalled the agony of Sif's scream like it happened seconds ago. She was thrashing and screaming, losing so much control that her wrists began to bleed.

Over and over, she kept crying out, "my people!" Her fists clenched as tight as possible, drawing blood from the soft skin from her palms. That must not have compared to the anguish she was suffering inside.

I could only look to Phil, who knew less than I did. My mind was racing over multiple explanations. Although I knew little about the Asgardians, I didn't believe it was possible for Sif to be mentally connected to them. The metal bindings would have prevented such extraordinary things.

There had to be another explanation. The only possibility I could conjure was a similar connection to what twins possessed. Wanda had told me that she knew the moment Pietro died. It was like her soul had been ripped in two.

Sif looked like her world was ending.

"My people. My home. My friends." Her words began to change, as did her agony. I watched in horror as anger, hatred and the thirst for revenge flickered across her dark eyes.

I hated feeling so helpless. "Sif?" My voice sounded childish in the echo of the room, like calling into a large, empty cavern. There was little I could do but watch, and silently hope that it was not all bad.

Hours after the initial cry, her screams had turned to mumbles, her thrashing but a memory. Once again, the mighty Sif had been broken. This time, I did not know why.

Phil dared not speak. I could tell he was afraid by the tremble of his hands and the shifting of his eyes. A mere mortal such as he would be crushed in seconds if Sif decided to take her agony out on him. I would be powerless to stop it as well.

Lucky for everyone, she was bound against the machine. For the first time since being present in this prison, I was thankful.

But then it dawned on me. What exactly did Sif mean by her people? Her home? What happened? Was Asgard okay?

My mind began to work quicker and quicker as I sped through the endless possibilities. The only reoccurring thought was for Loki's safety. If he had been killed, I wasn't sure if it was even worth living, if trying to escape was even worth thinking of.

Of course I had been dreaming of ways to escape. The most prevalent one was Loki sweeping in and declaring that he knew it wasn't me all along, but it had been far too long for that to happen. And I didn't want saving, not this time. I was determined to break us out, even if it mean that it might kill me.

It's not like I hadn't been on the brink of death before. What would be one more attempt to flirt with death, especially when I had immortality on my side?

I wasn't just a mortal girl anymore. I was capable of saving those I loved, no matter the cost.