'No!" I scream, seeing the floor completely in tact. The narrow room of the weaponry looks completely untouched. My vision brought me here, and I half expected The floor to still have a giant hole in it from where they dropped Loki and Thor to under Asgard. It's where the dead army was imprisoned for years after Odin locked Hela away. Now, it's just an empty tomb.
I run over to it, banging on the floor.
"Dude, the floor didn't capture Loki!" Beth says, running over to me to pick me up.
"No, dumbass, they're under this room! We need to find something that can break this." I say, urgently looking around the room for something.
"The sword?" Heimdall offers, but I reject it. Then I see it, my ticket in. I rush over to a tall platform and pick up Thor's hammer like it's nothing. Heimdall stutters, completely astonished. I waste no time and return to the center of the room, smashing his hammer into the stone floor.
It cracks, letting pieces crumble far down beneath it's surface. I hit it again, and finally a space opens up where I can just barely see below. I call out.
"Loki? Thor? You down there?"
There's silence before I hear a comforting voice. "Can you drop down my hammer, please?"
"Bomb's away!" I yell as I drop the hammer down. I hear him catch it with a clank, then his heroic laughter. A whirling sound comes from beneath the floor, and soon enough Thor and Loki come crashing through the stone. I cover Beth's head, making sure nothing hits her as Thor and his brother settle. I immediately run to Loki.
"Don't, we don't know who's watching." He warns, holding me away from him. I nod, knowing he understands the danger we would be putting ourselves in if Hela found out about us.
"Can we go now? This is fucking insane!" Beth says, trying to urge us out. I look to Thor. I give him a soulful look, and I think he's picking up what I'm trying to say.
"You cannot do this alone, Lady Ayça." He says, shaking his head.
"I'm not saying I'm doing it alone. What other plan do you have?" I ask him, getting frustrated. We're running out of time.
"What are you talking about?" Beth asks, dodging her eyes between us.
"I'm talking about Thor getting you out of here. It's not safe for you, and you know it."
"I'm not leaving you!" She protests.
"Yes! You are!" I say, never having put my foot down like that at her before. Oh god, her face looks betrayed. "I'm sorry, Beth. But you have to leave. If you don't, you could die and I can't have that on my hands." I walk away, trying to end the conversation.
"Yeah? And what are you going to do?" She calls after me.
I stop and twist my upper body to look down at her from the steps, extending my arms to the sides confidently. "I gonna save Asgard, bitches!"
------------------
I sneak past the guards disguised as one. Loki copies me as we strut down the hallway towards Hela. We can hear the faint screams of Asgardians from the city below, and I can't help but tremble a little. Heimdall promised to get everyone to safety while Thor took my sister home. He promised he would return in time to help us, and I really hope he can make it back.
We get to where Hela is. I can see around the corner by holding up my sword, seeing her in the reflection. It's like she's waiting for me. I turn to Loki as we change back into ourselves.
"Ayça, please hear me for a moment." He says, getting close to my face. I look up at him, forcing myself to get lost in his eyes.
"Yes?"
"Remember when I told you that there was a way for us to stay together, but would cause an uproar?" He begins.
"Loki, I don't think now if the right time to be ta-"
"Marry me."
I stop talking, my mouth stuck open. He's serious.
"Marry you?" I question.
"Please?" He says, cupping my face in his hands.
"If I make it out alive, you'll have your answer." I say, kissing him passionately.
"I love you..." He says, kissing me again.
"I love you too, Loki."
I turn away from him. I want to appear alone at first when I confront Hela. I march right up to her, and she's smiling like she's already won.
"Have you thought about my offer?" She asks, smiling down at me.
"I have." I say, drawing my sword. "And I am sorry to say that I'm disinclined to acquiesce your request. Means 'no'."
"I thought you might reject. You're trying so desperately hard to avoid your becoming. You have no idea, do you?" She says, swaggering over to me.
"What is it now?" I ask, annoyed as fuck.
"Call it what you will, but when you slaughtered your own father you brought on something you cannot handle. Now that Odin is dead and Thanos is dead, the thrones are up for grabs. Let's call it Armageddon."
"If I may interject, Loki is the rightful king of Asgard, not you."
She snarls at me when I say this and strikes me across the face. "Kneel."
She grabs me by the hair, trying to flip me backwards. I jump and kick my legs out, propelling me in a circle and snapping her wrist as I grab it, whipping her to the ground. She catches herself like a cat, then stands. Her hands move towards her face and through her hair, transforming it into a metal helmet that looks like antlers. Man, she has absolutely no taste. Horns over antlers any day.
She whips a weapon from thin air and into her grasp, swinging it at me. I bend back, ducking it and swing my sword at her neck. She dodges, and soon we are chasing each other around the throne room. I manage to knock the weapon out of her hand, and she uses her fists. She punches me, making my nose bleed. It knocks my focus for just a second, and next thing I know her hand is wrapped around my neck. What is it with this family and choking?
I smile at her, and under the pressure of her hand I say, "You can't kill me... I can't die."
She lets me go and stops fighting. I stand, still ready to take other swing at her.
"You're a fool, Ayça." She says, shaking her head. "You really believed Thanos when he told you about the fountain?"
"How did you know about that?" I ask, my heart sinking.
"You had your insurance policy, he had his. Sure, you survived the battle, but do you really think he wasn't thinking ahead?"
Oh god, I don't like where this is going. She's right, though, it did seem too easy. I shouldn't have been such an idiot, but I wasn't thinking straight at the time. I just wanted to get home.
"So, what, the juice runs out or something? I'm not actually immortal anymore?"
She waits a moment, and for the second she looks away I look down at my blade to see behind me. I check where Loki is waiting, and see the tip of his boot peaking out from behind the door frame.
"You are. Well, were. You walk these halls as if you own death, as if you embody it. You will, just not the way you intend." She charges me with a dagger, and I back up, turning to run from her. I see Loki coming out from behind the wall.
Then I feel her dagger pierce through me, ripping at my skin. I look down to see my torso bleeding out as she rips the blade from my body. My wound expands as I try to breath. The pain is so powerful I weaken and fall to my knees. I hear Loki screaming for me as he catches me in his arms.
"My pathetic little adopted brother as your weakness? Ayça, you can do better than that." She says, strutting away and leaving me to die.
Loki hold me in his lap, frantically trying to press on the wound in my abdomen.
"No.... no Ayça please, I can heal you!" He says, trying to use his magic. Somehow it's not working.
"Loki..." I say in almost a whisper.
"Come on, you 're not dying on me!" He says picking me up and rushing out of the room.
"Loki?" I say, trying to get his attention. He's not paying attention. He's greeted by his brother in the hallway, but I can't make out what they're saying. My hearing is going out and my vision is blurry, yet I can still see a trail of blood left behind. That's... that's my blood.
I hear Loki's panicked words and screaming, his hands on my face as I'm set down somewhere soft. He's begging me to come back. I can't respond to him anymore. I close my eyes, feeling the life draining out of me. My head is light and throbbing and my whole body starts shutting down. This is it, this is the end.
The last thing I hear before I die is Loki crying out for me.