AUTHORS NOTE- Before you read this chapter, I just want to say sorry for taking so long with this one. The next one is going to take EVEN LONGER so I am REALLY REALLY SORRY.
And holy crap... over 1.6k reads. Thank you guys so much!!!
I wish I could give a shout out to everyone who has helped me with this but I know you guys want to read so I just have one more thing to say- I officially have a love-hate relationship with cliffhangers. I love writing them but I hate putting people through them..Screw it, here it goes.
LOKI POV
I felt myself being transported through the realms, and it wasn't as pleasant as traveling through the Bifrost but it was the best I could do in only a day.
As soon as I walked out of the portal, I collapsed in a heap on the ground. I heard the rest of the girls groaning and knew they had all made it through.
"Oh god." Sarah groaned while pulling herself up.
"Gods." I corrected her.
"Whatever." She mumbled.
"First off, I hate you for doing that." Abby said while looking at me. "Second, where the heck are we? This is Nifflheim, right? If you transported us to the wrong realm and we have to do that again, I will personally kick your ass."
I looked around and saw a dark grey sky and realized the entire landscape was grey. A heavy mist was everywhere, making it hard to see anything other than a few mountains in the distance.
"Yes. This is it. Welcome to the Norse land of the dead." I said. "And now you have no reason to 'kick my ass.'" I quickly added.
"Damn it." Abby muttered.
"Pshh. Some welcoming party. If I had some bacon, then I would be happy." Elizabeth said.
Sabrina laughed. "Where are we supposed to go anyway? We have no idea where they are and this realm is huge."
'Yes we do." I said firmly. "I can sense Thanos. And he is very close." I pointed over to the mountains in the distance. "Somewhere near those mountains."
"How can you sense him?"Sarah asked.
"When someone takes over your mind and tortures you, its pretty easy to tell when they're nearby. I don't recommend it. Plus, I'm a god."
Sarah scoffed. "Like that justifies anything."
Abby shrugged. "Works for me."
I started walking towards the mountains, only one goal in mind.
As we drew closer, I realized that in front of the mountains was a looming black building in front of them. It was rectangular and completely back. We were approaching from the side of the building so we saw that there was one larger room at the end.
What worried me was the fact that there were no guards, none at all. And I didn't feel Thanos' presence anymore.
"Where are all the guards?" Elizabeth asked.
"I don't know. I don't sense Thanos anymore, either."
"The only other explanation is that everyone is inside." Sarah said.
Abby sighed. "So what do we do?"
I thought for a moment. "There's only one thing we can do. We'll just have to go right in and hope for the best."
"So wait, hold up." Sabrina sounded scared, and spoke as if she were reassuring herself. "All we have to do is just run in there, search all the rooms, find Jang, kill Thanos and not get ourselves killed in the process?"
"Pretty much." Elizabeth said.
"Very well. Did you arm yourselves before hand?" I asked.
Abby rolled her eyes. "Yes Loki, we're not stupid."
"Well..."
"Shut it."
"OK."
I pulled out my dagger and was met with a dubious look from Sabrina.
"You only have a dagger?"
I looked around and saw that Sarah had her pistols, Abby had her knives, Elizabeth had her bow but Sabrina only had a dagger the same length as mine.
"What is the problem? Your dagger isn't any longer!"
"Yeah but I got this." She pressed a button on her dagger and it grew into a sword.
"And I also have this." I waved my hand and a dozen clones surrounded us.
"Smart."
I smiled. "That's the key. Thor believes that in order to defeat an enemy, you have to be stronger. He's wrong. You have to be smarter." I waved my hand and the clones disappeared.
"Show off." Sabrina muttered.
"Whatever, its not important right mow. What you said is true. But there is nothing smart about this plan." Sarah said.
I shrugged. "Sometimes you just have it risk it all."
I turned and walked ever closer to the door. As we came to a stop in front of the two large doors, I realized that there was no lock of any type on the door. And there was still no sign of any guards.
"This is beginning to worry me. Why isn't anyone here?" Elizabeth said.
"I don't know.They could be waiting for us inside but I do know that Thanos isn't here anymore. I don't think he's even in this realm anymore."
"Well, there's no point in waiting any longer to find out." Abby said.
I nodded and pushed open the doors, bracing myself for the fight that was sure to come. But I was met with nothing. I looked inside and saw no one, not a single soul anywhere. Down the hallway, doors lined both sides. But at the very end of the hallway, there was a single door that was protected with a veil of dark energy. I immediately knew that's where Jang was.
We ran down the hallway until we were three feet from the door. I stopped and summoned a blast of magic to break whatever spell was protecting the door. The veil went away and left the door hanging slightly ajar.
"Go. We'll stand guard here." Elizabeth said.
I slowly pushed the door open and saw a sight that truly horrified me.
Jang was there, and she was alive! But she was covered in awful wounds, bruises and scars. I felt my fury rising and vowed to defeat whoever had done this to her. She had shakles cutting into her wrists, keeping her chained to the wall. She was facing away from me and had her eyes closed so I slowly approached her, as to not startle her.
"Jang." I spoke quietly, waiting to get some response. "Jang, it's alright. I'm here now. You'll be safe, I promise."
She just scoffed. "Yeah right." Her voice was hoarse, as if she had been screaming. "What is it going to be this time? Will I have to kill you? Or will it be the other way around today?"
What was she talking about? "No, Jang it's me. I'm really here. I'm going to take you back to Asgard and we'll get you help."
"You know, if you're going to kill me, for gods sake, just do it. It gets awful tiring, living through the horrors each day."
I realized that Thanos had used trickery on her. So much that she couldn't tell the difference between illusion and real life anymore.
"Jang please! Just open your eyes. See that I'm really here!" I kneeled down in front of her to be level with her. Desperation and fear must have been clear in my voice because she finally did.
And instead of the bright purple I had been longing to see all these weeks, all I saw was a dull gray, as if the life had been sucked right out of them.
"Alright then. Prove it."
I did the only thing I could think of. I grabbed her hand and pressed it against my forehead. She hissed at the sudden contact and tried to slip out of my grasp but I held tight.
I had to show her this.
I closed my eyes and began replying all of my memories of her through my head. How she carried herself with grace. How she found the beauty in the little things. Her sitting on the couch, drawing. Singing to herself for no good reason. But then I remembered that awful night she had been taken. How afraid I was, how worried I was.
No.
I had to stop these thoughts right now. I couldn't afford to scare her anymore than she already was.
I opened my eyes and saw that she was staring at me with a fierce intensity. Tiny streaks of purple were back in her eyes, giving me hope that the Jang I knew was still there.
"Loki? Is it really you?" Her eyes were tearing up. "You found me?" She tried to raise her hands to try and touch my cheek but the shakles pulled at her wrists making her wince.
Relief flooded my body. She knew I was real!
I nodded, tears filling my own eyes, threatening to fall.
But I had to keep them in.
I had to be strong.
"It's me, love. I'm here now. Now, hold still." I took out my dagger and Jang gasped in fear. She tried to move away but I stopped her.
"Jang it's alright. I promise. I won't let anything hurt you ever again."
She looked up at me, the streaks of purple growing bigger her eyes.
"OK." She whispered.
I slid my dagger between her wrist and the shakle on her left wrist. I twisted the dagger and the shakle cut off as if it were made of cloth. The same thing happned with the other one.
This made no sense. Why would Thanos go to such lengths to hide for weeks, only to let us know where they were, and then have no one here when we arrived?
I took a hold of Jangs hand and slowly lifted her to her feet. I put her arm around my neck for support and held her waist. She took one step and promptly collapsed.
I set her down and craddled her head in my lap. I saw that her eyes were closed again.
"Jang! Jang!" I yelled.
Elizabeth came running in.
"Loki what is it? What hap-" She gasp at the sight of Jang.
"Oh no."
I turned to look at her. " Get the others. Now."
She nodded and ran back out the door. I closed my eyes and began reciting a healing spell I had learned as a child. It wasn't the strongest one but I needed to conserve my magic if I was going to open the portal once more.
I heard footsteps coming back in and the gasps of everyone else.
I felt Jang move in my arms and I opened my eyes. She gasped and sat up, clinging to my shoulders. Her eyes were fully purple now but she had a crazy look in them.
She was breathing unevenly as she tried to speak. "Loki. Listen to me. We have to get back! We have go to Asgard, right now!"
"Jang calm down. What is it?" Sarah kneeled down so Jang could see her.
"Sarah?"
She smiled. "Yeah, it's me. Look we're all here." She gestured to everyone else.
Tears were in Jangs eyes once again. "You're ok. You're all ok."
Sarah was confused but she covered it up well. "Yeah, we're ok. We're fine. We're gonna take you back to Asgard, ok?"
"Asgard. Asgard! We have to go! Now!" Jang was trembling now.
"Jang. What did you see?" I asked
"It's...It's him. He's there." She looked so scared, so fragile.
"Ok. Ok. We'll go right now." I helped Jang to her feet and Abby and Elizabeth help her stay standing.
I closed my eyes and murmured the spell once more. I just barley had enough energy to do it but it worked. I slowly led Jang through the portal.
We thankfully landed on our feet this time, in a forest near the edges of the village. Everyone got through and the portal closed once more. I was glad to see that the horses I had tied to the trees earlier were still there.
I helped Jang up and got on after her. She wrapped arms tightly around me. Everyone else had mounted and we rode in a tense silence to the edge of the forest where a small cliff allowed us to see all of Asgard.
Everyone gasped as we were met with a truly terrible sight.
I looked around and all I saw was a battle raging on. Asgardians clashed with the Dark Elves all around us. There were many bodies already fallen, too many of them Asgardian. I saw that most of the fighting was now on the edges of the village, leaving us a small but dangerous path to the palace, directly through the battle field.
I immediately saw how risky it was but I saw no other choice. I turned my horse to face the girls, Jang clinging to me tightly.
"The quickest way to the place is straight though the battle. With all the fighting on the edges of the village, we might not be noticed but I doubt it. We have to risk it."
I looked around and everyone was nodding except for Sabrina. I saw the fear in her eyes, doubt clouding her judgment. I raised an eyebrow and opened my mouth but she cut me off.
"No. No, I can't do it." She said, shaking her head vigorously. "I just can't."
"Sabrina, what are you talking about?" Jang weakly asked. She just kept shaking her head, tears pooling in her eyes.
"What?! What do you mean you can't? We have to help Jang! What is wrong with you?!" Abby shouted, looking furious. Sarah and Elizabeth were both dumbfounded.
"I just can't." A single tear rolled down her cheek. "I'm so sorry." She grabbed the reigns so hard her knuckles turned white. She quickly turned the horse around and galloped into the forest.
"Traitor! Coward!" Abby grabbed her reigns as if to ride after her but I stopped her.
"No!" Jang cried out, surprising us all. "If that is what she wants, so be it. I don't want her, or any of you to risk your lives for me."
"I don't care. I'm doing it anyway." Elizabeth said. Sarah and Abby nodded in agreement but Abby still looked as if she was going to ride after Sabrina.
"There is no time. We must focus. She can be dealt with later." I said.
Abby didn't answer, she just let go of the reigns.
It hurt me deeply to see Sabrina go. She was the first to trust me, to actually care. But I was furious at her. How dare she abandon Jang when she needed her most? How could she!?
But I understood how she felt.
Fear had consumed her.
She didn't know what to do, didn't see any other option than to run.
Run and never look back.
I didn't know if I could forgive her.
Maybe I would, for Jangs sake.
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And I am so sorry for the cliffhanger (Not really)