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Update: 137,000 reads :,)
Warning: mention of suicide
"If we play along, we'll stay safe."
"Summer?"
Her blood ran cold and she quickly dried the tears from her eyes, giving her son a pleading look- a warning.
Then, she turned to face Loki. "Yes, love?"
Loki appeared in the archway moments after. "Ah, there you are, darling. I've been looking for you. Dinner is nearly ready."
"Oh, okay. We'll be down in just a minute."
He hummed at that and sauntered closer, guards suddenly behind him. "I don't think that's necessary," he spoke lowly. "Go on, finish your conversation. Act as if I'm not here."
Landon winced nervously and sent his mom a worried glance. "What do you mean?"
Loki gave a short laugh and gave a slight nod of his head. Landon wouldn't of noticed the subtle signal he gave the guards, but Summer did. She leapt to protect her son, but she was too late. The guards grabbed her and held her back, while Loki approached his son. He grabbed him by the neck and roughly shoved his back against the railing of the balcony, a several story drop below.
"No!" Summer screamed and thrashed in the guards' hold. "Let him go!" She yelled as Landon cried out and pleaded to his dad in fear.
"You want me to let him go?" Loki taunted, cocking his head in question.
"Yes, please!" She pleaded. She should have known to be more careful with her words after so many years.
A cruel grin stretched across his lips. "If you insist."
He fisted the collar of Landon's shirt to hoist him off the ground, forcing him to shuffle backwards until the ground was suddenly out from under him and he was dangling off the balcony. He cried out and latched onto his dad's arms, dangling over the very tall structure. He kicked desperately, searching for leverage, but no avail.
"I'll ask again," Loki released his grip ever so slightly and the boy cried in fright. "Do you still want me to let him go?"
"Mom, help me!" He pleaded with desperate screams, breaking her heart.
She knew she shouldn't have, but she couldn't help but blurt out a desperate, "Don't you dare!" She collapsed to her knees, begging with her arms held out in front of her. The guards let her go, but stayed close.
"Ah, ah, ah," he tsked and jerked the boy, making them both scream in fright. "What did I say about letting the kids' know our little secret?"
Her chest ached as she watched hopelessly, her heart feeling like it was going to pound out of her chest.
"Summer?" He drawled in a sing song voice, waiting for an answer.
"Not to." She cried.
"And?"
"To.... to be obedient."
"Because what will happen if you're not?"
She chewed on her bottom lip and closed her eyes in attempt to hold back her cries as fear took over her body. "Open your eyes and answer me, Summer." He sneered and jerked him around once more.
Landon's fearful blue eyes that were identical to his father's almost felt like they burned holes into her own.
Suddenly it dawned on her. "Or you'll.... you'll have to kill them." She croaked and she saw her son visibly stiffen.
"And who's fault will it be?"
A sob escaped passed her trembling lips. "Mine." This was her fault. He was going to kill him.
"So now you know what I have to do."
"No!" She screamed and launched herself at him. "Don't touch him!"
Loki was impressed with the fight she put up, but wasn't surprised. He knew as a mom, she'd do anything for her children. Fortunately for him, she's was quick, but he was quicker.
The sheer force of her scream and sob drew her to her knees as she watched her son plummet to what would be an inevitable death. Her crying was more than crying, it was the kind of desolate sobbing that comes from a person drained of all hope. From her mouth came a cry from so raw, that even the eyes of the servants and guards around her was suddenly wet with tears.
She shoved past everyone and ran down the stairs of the balcony and to her son's lifeless body. She collapsed in a heap and moved to hold Landon, but before she could, he vanished.
She reeled back, horrified. "No, where.... Is he still-"
"He's alive." Loki's irritated voice sounded from behind her.
Her mouth opened and closed multiple times as her brain desperately tried to figure out what the hell just happened. Her chin quivered and another confused sob followed. "He's alive? That wasn't him?"
He crossed his arms, suddenly right in front of her. "You don't believe me?"
Her body trembled in a mixture of fear and rage before she finally snapped. "Believe you!?" She barked and stood to her feet. All rational thoughts went out the window. "You've done nothing but deceive me for the past several years! You've controlled my life, you made me believe my kids and my friends were murdered, and I STILL don't know what to believe! The only reason why I haven't killed myself yet is because of my kids! I hate you, I despise you, and I hope you die!" She screeched at the top of her lungs. "If my kids are actually dead, just kill me already!"
All he did was stare at her blankly. "You don't mean that."
"Hell yes I do." She snarled. "I will never understand why you picked me. You could have had anyone else in the world- in the galaxy, yet you singled out a lonely farm girl to torture for the rest of her life." She cried, hoarsely. "And I know what you did."
He rose a brow.
"I haven't aged." She seethed, harshly. "Not a grey hair, not a wrinkle, no saggy skin, nothing. I'm stuck with you forever now, aren't I? You made me immortal when we got married." She more so stated than asked, while glaring at the wedding band melted and molded into her skin for eternity.
The corners of his mouth curled upwards into a improbable grin, answering her question.
A lone tear traveled down her cheek and she closed her eyes, practically glowing in the moonlight. Loki thought she couldn't look more beautiful. "And I don't have much time left, do I?" She asked so softly, she could barely hear it herself.
He hummed in question and steadily drew near. He noticed she didn't cower away when he stood directly behind her and didn't flinch when he combed his fingers through her long hair.
She swallowed hard and rasped, "until I'm a robot again. Loving you blindly, again. I don't know how you did it, because I've had nothing but water, but I know you've started to give me the potion again."
He turned her around so she would face him and it pained him to see the tears on her blotchy cheeks. "What makes you think it's the potion again? You've loved me once without it before."
"Because I hate you." She answered, immediately. Even with the hurt and stern look he gave her, there was no regret in her expression. "Can the potion really turn my hate into love?"
His jaw clenched as his soft blue eyes studied her face. "I think you know the question to that."
Unfortunately, he was right. She noticed everyday the changes in herself. The way she didn't cower from him as much and felt a strange yearning to be around him. The way she relaxed in his touch. The way she didn't feel to run away anymore. She noticed it all, this time. Especially the ache in her chest when she admitted she hated him. Gosh, she despised him.
"I have a proposition for you." She spoke, softly, as she stared off in the distance.
He gestured for her to continue, and waited.
After three deep breaths, she told him, "I'll drink the whole bottle if you let them go. If the team is still alive like you say they are, the kids can stay with them. And I'll drink it all."
He chuckled lowly and shook his head. "Then they would know we're alive-"
"You're always one step ahead of them. You're smarter and quicker than them." She interrupted him. "Plus, the kids have no idea what planet we're on. It's not like they can tell them where we are."
His eyes trailed over her face, studying her. "You've thought a lot about this, haven't you?" Though he wasn't really asking. From his pocket, he withdrew the small bottle and held it up to her. "Drink it, and I'll set them free."
"You promised you'd let her go now." Summer reminded him and stood in front of her friend, protectively, as he drew near.
"Did I?"
"Please, you did." She cried as a tear fell from her eye. "I'll stay if you let her go. No more games or fighting. Just let her go."
"You'd stay to spare her...." he realized, his gaze fixed on her. "No more games, no more fighting." He repeated and she nodded.
He smiled and opened his arms. Though hesitant to leave Ally's side, she didn't want to anger Loki either. She complied and stepped into his hold. "Thank you, love." He said with a kiss to the top of her head.
He kept her gathered in his arms and ducked his head down to whisper in her ear, "I think it's best if you're not here when she goes."
Summer peeked up at him. "Why?"
"I know it will be hard for you to see her go."
She shook her head. She needed to know Ally made it out okay. "I'd like to see her go."
He nodded once. "If that's what you wish." He straightened and cleared his throat. He gestured for Ally to turn around so they could walk out with Summer following.
Then he slit Ally's throat.
Summer screamed and fell with Ally's body to the floor. "No, wake up! Ally!" She screamed and grabbed her by the shoulders. She frantically applied pressure to the blood spewing out of her neck, but it was too late. "Ally, please!" She begged, denying reality.
With shaky hands, she brushed her dear friend's hair out of her face. Bile rose in her throat when she got blood mixed in with her hair.
"You said you'd let her go!" Summer screamed.
"No, I said I'd set her free." Loki replied, cooly, turning to look out the window. "What's more free than this?.... now you have nothing to fight for. No reason to leave me."
She frantically shook her head, the old memory haunting her. "No, you'll give them, alive and unharmed, to the Avengers. And then I'll drink it."
He pursed his lips, quite impressed with his wife. "Drink it and I'll give them, alive and unharmed, to the Avengers."
Her breath caught in her throat, the small bottle feeling heavy between her fingers. She could smash it against the ground, throw it off the balcony, but he'd just get another.
Once she drank this, there would be no going back. She'd be in love, infatuated, obsessed with him.
She weighed her options. She'd do anything for her children. "You promise?" She whispered.
"You have my word."
Then she drank the potion, down to the last drop.
Anything for her children.
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