A scream rips from Anna's throat as she struggles against the hands that held her down, the lack of oxygen making her desperate, and her nails dig in as she fights for survival. She hadn't reacted when his skin first touched hers due to shock, and it isn't long before black dots began to swirl in her vision.
She'd already experienced death - or something very like it - once, thanks to Sigyn's trick of sending her to visit Hela, and she definitely isn't eager to repeat the experience. Not now, and not anytime soon. It's that will to live that fuels her, pushing her already weak muscles to fight with everything she has, until the weight on her neck suddenly disappears.
"Anna!" A voice pierces through the fog hanging heavy in her thoughts, and the darkness fades from her vision to reveal a glowing golden light.
Asgard.
She's in Asgard.
The hands that were wrapped around her ivory skin are no more, and - instead of digging her nails into Loki's skin - blood is pouring from the half-moon shaped marks she left on Sigyn's arms.
Oxygen floods through her body in a much-welcomed relief, and Anna lets her eyelashes flutter closed for a moment as she holds back tears. She saw Loki. She heard his voice. She touched him.
And he tried to kill her.
"Loki," she croaks, opening her eyes to meet Sigyn's concerned gaze. "I saw Loki."
The blonde lifts an eyebrow, reaching forward to help Anna sit up slowly. She doesn't recognize the room they're in, meaning Sigyn successfully moved her body from the gilded cage of Loki's chambers while she was gone, and she gratefully accepts her friend's assistance as she exhales shakily.
"In Niflheim?" Sigyn asks softly.
Anna shakes her head, and relief floods over Sigyn's features. Once again she pulled Anna back from the brink of death, her magic drawing Anna out of the void and away from the place where her consciousness is trapped each time she falls asleep. How it is happening, Sigyn isn't certain. Surely Thanos is capable of such a feat, but - if it was caused by the Mad Titan - she doubted Anna would be alive right now. No, this strange occurrence is likely due to her connection with Loki and the binding of their souls, and she can only be grateful that she was able to wake her up in time.
"I have to go back," Anna says, her voice breaking as she gingerly touches the already-bruised skin on her neck. The brunette winces, the memory of Loki's green eyes flashing with rage as he attempted to squeeze the life out of her quite literally. "Do you have something that will make me sleep?"
Sigyn shakes her head, "That would not be wise, my friend. You've only just returned from speaking with Hela. I was barely able to pull you out of your sleep. I do not wish to attempt it again so soon."
"I have to go back, Sigyn," the Midgardian woman repeats stubbornly. "I have to. I found him, after all this time, and now I have to bring him back."
"And how do you propose to accomplish such a task?"
Anna frowns, "Does it matter? I can't leave him there anymore. I'll figure something out once I go back."
"It doesn't work that way," the blonde woman replied with a sigh. "You cannot simply--"
"I don't care!" Anna jerks away from Sigyn, pushing herself to her feet.
She sways from the sudden movement, gripping a small side table as she regains her balance, before sweeping a hand under her eyes to catch any angry tears before they fall. Seeing Loki again after so many months without him fills her with hope, anguish, and - unfortunately - despair. She hated seeing him like that, broken and battered by Thanos, and guilt flooded her chest at the memory of his bloodied body. She wants to be angry with him, angry that he trapped her in her chambers, furious that he abandoned her in Asgard for so long, but the only anger she feels is toward herself.
"You didn't see him," she whispers to Sigyn, her voice low and rough. "I could barely recognize him through all of the blood, and he..." Her voice breaks, and she bites her lip to keep from crying. "He didn't think I was real. He tried to kill me."
Sigyn stands, cautiously lifting a hand to place it on Anna's shoulder, and she squeezes it softly.
"All the more reason to get help," she tells Anna. "Try as we might, I doubt we would succeed on our own."
Anna recognizes the truth in Sigyn's words, and her shoulders slump forward as she asks, "Who will help us? No one in Asgard will be willing to..."
"In Asgard, no," Sigyn says with a smirk. "But I was under the impression that you have a few friends in Midgard who might be up for a challenge."