Soulmates - Loki Laufeyson

chapter eleven

Irremediably, for the umpteenth time in his life, Loki found himself locked in a cage with handcuffs restricting his powers. "For the good of all," the Avengers had told him, attaching those frozen cold things to his wrists.

All this after fighting, for weeks, maybe months, against monsters whose origins, or even names, they didn't even know. They had recruited all those who, according to the comics read by Thor, would have to join their ridiculous little group of superheroes over the years to prevent the catastrophes that would await them.

What did Loki get out of all this? Besides seeing his Asgard destroy itself under the fire and flames of Surtur, under the temper tantrum of a sister named Hela whose existence they didn't even know existed, and after they all nearly died from a ridiculous glove possessed by a horrible, slimy creature named Thanos? Imprisonment.

They had voted. Thor disagreed, and against his every expectation, even Mr. Stark did not believe that Loki deserved to be locked in a cage like any petty thief or criminal. Perhaps even that beast named Rocket along with his tree friend Groot, but Loki's vision was too blurred with anger to realize what was actually happening to understand who was on his side or not.

"You can't go back to her reality," Steve Rogers had heard as he cleaned his dried bloodstained knuckles from the battle.

"When was it decided?"

"Now," Natasha replied, poisonously. "We can't risk it."

"Risk it?!", Loki said in reply, clenching his fists tightly. He had to count to ten to avoid catching each of them individually and throwing them from the top of the Tower. "Risk what? If all your ridiculous human beings are alive now, it's only because of me and Thor that we made that trip!"

The room went silent for a moment. There were those who tried to cleanse themselves of enemy blood, those who took a breath for spending too much energy in such a short time. But fortunately, they were all alive. Or at least, fortunately for them, given Loki's homicidal mania, who at that moment would have wanted to silence them one by one.

And then they had thrown him into that stupid magic and ingenious cage that was making him wither more and more, day after day. He had little power in his veins, he could feel it. Sometimes he would snap his fingers in the hope that he could do something, but out of it came a faint splash of green light and nothing more.

He was not used to feeling so weak. And above all, given the pain and tiredness, he could no longer get in touch with his soulmate. He had tried so many times, but she didn't seem to listen to him, even when she tried to talk to him.

The thought that she was going through a difficult time, also because of him, was sending him into a tailspin. She talked to him for hours, unfortunately without receiving an answer, about how she spent all her nights with her eyes open because she was simply afraid of having a nightmare like that again. He would have wanted to tell her that it was all over, that they had come out alive and that there was nothing to worry about, but every time he spoke, something inside him seemed to burn all that remained of his strength.

He had asked Thor for papers and ink so he could write. He wanted to answer, but as he was practically unable to do so, he chose to write some answers. It helped him to feel better. Certainly, he would never have had the chance to get those letters to her - in this it is quite impossible since they are in two totally opposite realities, but one way or the other this could calm his soul.

My dear,

It pains me to know that because of me you are going through such a difficult time. I would like to be able to tell you that I am fine, and that nothing has happened. That thanks to my brother we discovered a new world, we had to fight monsters that we didn't even think we were facing. It's a bad time for everyone.