Brandon's POV
I bolted out of bed and began running down the hall. Corey and Sean came running as well. I'm assuming we all three just had the same vision based on the terrified looks we shared. We threw open the door to the playroom and found Gabe sitting behind Eveleen, his hand on her shoulder while the other was held out to us. He placed his finger to his lips to silence us. Firecracker seemed to be talking to someone that none of us could see. I gasped softly as Gabe's eyes turned white and the room began to change.
She is still in the dream pocket with Erebus. I am channeling what she sees and hears so we can as well. Don't speak or move, he said telepathically to us. He had both hands on her shoulders now. The room slowly took on the look of an ancient cavern. I could feel the sand and dirt beneath my bare feet, and smell the stench of decay. Fuck, just how powerful was Gabe? I'd never seen anything like this before. I noticed the same shock on Corey and Sean's faces as well. We all followed Firecracker's line of sight.
Erebus.
He stood towering over her, his eyes hard and dark like agate stones, his body wrapped in tendrils of black mist. He reminded me of that demon from Fantasia that wakes up all the ghouls, just without wings. His horns almost scraped the top of the cavern as he spoke. "I see the stone is gone, interesting," he mused. He wasn't yelling, but his voice still shook and bounced off the walls with power. "I must say I was disappointed to see what the dragon did to Phineas. I was quite surprised when he broke the spell over him. Then again, I suppose it was always going to come down to this." He stopped and bent close to her face. I could see her breathing heavily, trying not to lean into Gabe. She must have realized his magic was shielding all of us.
"What do you want, Erebus? I'm tired of these games. You don't have control over me anymore, give up already," she said, raising her palms in frustration.
He let out a chilling laugh, "Oh I think I have more than enough control still." He stepped to the side revealing a very beaten and broken figure behind him.
"Loki," Firecracker gasped and tried to step forward. Gabe tightened his grip on her and she halted. Loki lifted his eyes and met hers. I've never seen fear like that before. He was afraid for her. His eyes flickered for just a moment as he looked past her. He could see us even though Erebus couldn't. "Let him go," she demanded in a low, angry tone.
"I think not, fairy. I'm sure we can come to some sort of arrangement." The titan stepped to Loki and grabbed him by the throat. "You will come to me and willingly give me a single heir. In exchange, I'll spare him and your chosen ones. One child, Eveleen, that is all I ask, then you will be free of me forever." He brought Loki just inches from her and sneered, "Otherwise, he will spend an eternity in shadow and all your little humans will die quite painfully. I'll give you twenty-four hours to decide, then I will expect you to meet me in the Void. Your dragon knows the way."
Firecracker reached out her hand, almost touching Loki, tears streaming down her face. He tried to shake his head no, but couldn't move much. Then he and Erebus vanished. As the room went back to normal, she collapsed into Gabe's arms. Sean rushed forward running his glowing hands over her, checking for injuries.
I ran my hand through my hair, "What the fuck do we do now?" I breathed.
"Gather the others in the main room," Gabe ordered. "Sean and I will bring her in a few moments." Corey and I nodded and went to gather the others.
Corey punched a wall as we walked down the hall. "Why does this keep happening to her?" he yelled. My brother was usually the calm one, but I understood his frustrations. I was sick of people messing with her too.
"I don't know man, but she has all of us to help her. We aren't letting him hurt her, and we'll figure out how to get Loki back too," I put my hand on his shoulder.
He spun around, grabbed me in a fierce hug, and sobbed, "I don't know what I'd do without her, Bran. After Kaylie, I figured it would just be me and Raven, you know, but then," he wiped at his eyes, trying to calm down. "Then I started seeing her in my dreams, and when Marc walked in that room with her, it was like all the air was sucked out of the room. I loved her the second I saw her. Hell, she gave me back my brother and my family."
"I know what you mean. When North brought her to the shop, everything changed. I couldn't let her out of my sight after that," I chuckled. "Then when I saw you and Raven in London, it was amazing. We aren't going to let anything happen to her, Cor, I promise." I gave him a reassuring smile and started knocking on doors.
By the time we had everyone gathered, Sean and Gabe were bringing Firecracker into the room. She looked pale and shaken, but she was also really pissed off. She sat quietly while Gabriel filled the rest of the guys in on what we had witnessed. He held her hand tightly and rubbed circles on her hand with his thumb as he spoke. She wouldn't look at any of us but kept staring into the carpet.
"I have to do it," she finally said, almost so softly that we missed it. She kept staring at the floor as if it was going to open up and swallow her.
"Nyet!" Raven boomed. "That isn't a choice. Besides, Loki wouldn't want you to."
"He's right, Pixie. Loki wouldn't forgive himself," Luke said, "Not to mention, you know damn well you'd never walk away from a child. Erebus knows it too. If you do this, he will never let you go and it won't matter that we are alive, because losing you like that will kill us."
"Well, I can't leave him there!" She cried out.
Owen stood up, silencing all of us instantly. "The point is moot, Tesoro. You're already pregnant."
What the actual fuck?!
Author's Notes: for @AWritingRaven - I hope the threads are all coming together for you!