"If you fail, if the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he can't find you. You think you know pain? He will make you long for something as sweet as pain."
Ever since this, Loki hasn't been very overly fond of sleeping. He's scared, still terrified by his true punishment which is not this imprisonment. The Other warned him about his dark future, about Thanos and Loki remembers his last visit all too well. The torture was unbearable, something he would never want to endure again and if he's asleep, he's weak and Thanos or the Other could creep into his mind once more and take his soul to the Mad Titan's planet where the torture would continue.
He would drown in his own blood again, the nights would be filled with screams as Loki himself would drive into full madness without a chance of salvation or light. Thanos and the Other broke him until he obeyed, until he would go piece by piece. Even the attempt of suicide did not work out, Thanos did not grant this kind of mercy. That is why, he doesn't dare to let his mind fully rest.
But after his tiring outburst and Aurora's welcoming arms, he just drifted off and this has turned out as a mistake. Loki Laufeyson is in pain. The Other has mentally caught him when he didn't pay enough attention and now he's seeing how the people he cares about die in his dream. Their blood is on his hands. Frigga, Aurora, and also Thor. Loki's eyes are piercing blue; aching, his mind and his body act out of his control. He's stabbing each of them to death until just a pool of blood is left.
Nothing more than a puppet, that is what he is, only to serve for the Kree's entertainment. A devastated scream erupts from his lips when he spots Aurora's dying body and is in complete control of his actions again, his long legs carrying him to the injured redhead.
"No, Aurora, no, no... I'm so sorry, what have I done?" His voice is breaking as Loki holds the dying girl in his arms. Although she's bleeding out, Aurora manages to send him a last gentle, yet heartbreaking smile. "Please, stay with me, don't die on me. I'm begging you, please, don't."
"This is all your doing, Frost Giant." The Other behind him hisses in contempt. "Because you have failed. Not only your family, but also us and he will come after you in the moment where you cherish life the most. This is just a little foretaste of your future, Laufeyson. Greetings from him."
The blood in Loki's veins freezes in fear as Aurora's dead body is still pressed against his chest. "Thanos..."
⠀
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"LOKI!" Aurora has no choice but to slap the God of Mischief awake with a precise strike against his cheek. Loki is startled by the hit and pangs his eyes wide open, his whole body is drenched in sweat and coated by a strong trembling. Gasping for air, he glances at Aurora in shock.
"What was that for?" Loki realizes that his head is lying on her lap and he sits slowly up, looking around. The same, bright cell as always, not the dark place of the Other. He's back, yet it feels like Aurora's blood still nets his hands.
"I'm sorry." She mumbles weakly and a forced smile lies on her pale lips. "It took me a long while to wake you up, I was almost scared you wouldn't open your eyes anymore and- "
Suddenly, Aurora is engulfed in his arms, her petite figure almost completely hidden underneath them and she's taken aback by the sudden hug. She was not expecting that, especially not from Loki and she can still hear his fast heartbeat. He seems scared which is very uncharacteristic from him. And this makes her worry even more.
"It was just a nightmare..." Her voice trails off, feeling slightly overwhelmed by his embrace which only tightens. Of course, she could figure out that he's hugging her because of the bad dream, she can always read him.
"It was more than that." Loki only mumbles into her hair, the red tone in the brown color stings in his sight but he has grown to admire it.
"You want to talk about it?" Aurora asks carefully and feels how his head is shaking a silent no against her. "Okay. But you should know that I'm always here for you. Even though I don't have much of a choice anyway."
Her teasing eases the tense atmosphere slightly and just now, Loki lets go of her to look at her. "Are you well? I pretty much hurt you, you must be in pain."
"I'm alright, don't worry!" She claims enthusiastically, forcing the brightest smile she could possibly show and ignoring her slight fever. "And don't feel guilty, okay? You were overwhelmed by rage and threw a tantrum in Frost Giant style. It's fine, really, I once was so outraged that I threw a fork at some sexist pig."
"You're lying."
"Okay, I'm slightly exaggerating, I didn't want to be a complete asshole, so I only hit his head against the wall— Ouch!"
Loki has grabbed her wrist and reveals her palm which is burned from the cold ice, the wound looks far from good. Aurora clenches her teeth to suppress a painful hiss, she really tried her best to hide it beneath the garment from Loki. She didn't want to worry him which is exactly what's happening right now.
"Even if you were good at lying, which you are, by the way, not at all, do you really think that I, the God of Lies, wouldn't be able to unfold the truth?" He tilts his head and sounds slightly upset, now feeling more like a monster. "Aurora, this could've caught an infection. You have already a fever."
"I wanted to avoid hearing exactly this tone in your voice. It was worth a try, aye?" Aurora tries to joke but bites on her lower lip to prevent a pained yell when his cool hand glides over her palm.
"I really am sorry. I did not mean to act monstrous, especially towards you. Harming you is the last thing I intend. " Loki apologizes softly and mumbles a few words that Aurora cannot understand.
"You're not acting monstrous— what the actual shit?" She gasps when a green mist surrounds her palm, her eyes widen. Realizing what he's doing, Aurora refuses to let him continue. "No, Loki, stop healing me. You need to rest. Don't waste your energy for me- "
"It'd not be a waste." He cuts her off and seems to be overstrained with the sorcery. Luckily, he finishes before it can cause any further harm and both glance at her palm. The almost black color now wears the color of her flesh, just more purple and blood red. Compared to the appearance before, it's a big improvement. Using a piece of the sheet of her pillow, he bandages her left hand.
"Show me your other wounds."
"Which other wounds— Ouch, okay, okay, I give in!" Aurora yells in surrender when he pulls out her arms, eyeing the wounds that are fortunately not as bad as the one on her palm. "Please, don't try to heal it. It's not as bad, and your hands are cold enough to cool it down."
"You mean like this?" His hand is placed on her upper arm, his thumb gently brushing over her skin. Closing her eyes, Aurora enjoys the cold feeling.
"Much better." She leans with her head on his shoulder and catches him off guard with this intimate gesture, Loki slightly lifts a brow and lets his hand remain on her arm. "Thank you for everything. Not only healing my wounds but also comforting me about Ophelia. You know, sometimes I remember she's dead and then it gets harder to smile but because of you, it's possible."
"Why are you saying this now?"
"Because you're my ice cube right now." Aurora chuckles lowly, her eyes still closed. "And maybe because I wanna return the favor. You lost your mother, Loki. But you're not alone with the pain."
"I do not wish to talk about this." His voice hardens, acting sensitive towards Frigga's death. Looking upon her, Loki notices the bloody lip and realizes how much pain she must have held back for him. She's glowing under his touch, her heat radiating.
"What was she like? I can only imagine how gentle she must have been. She was already so nice towards me although I just caused chaos." Aurora still doesn't give up, knowing he needs to grieve.
"She's been nothing but understanding and kind." He remembers his childhood, a sad smile gracing his lips. "Thor and his friends always left me behind, I was only Thor's pathetic shadow to everyone, especially to Odin. All the boys wanted to fight by his side, all ladies wanted to be courted by him. I was the second choice. Just my mother noticed my loneliness and chose me over Thor. She taught me how to use sorcery and gifted me with her magic. She was the only one who truly accepted me and now I pushed her away, towards death. I have failed her- Aurora?"
Loki feels how his tunic gets wet, glancing at her. Tears are falling from her now open eyes and he frowns. "You're crying. Why?"
"It's just- it's not fair. I know what you'd done on Terra was not right but- why? Why is your story just so incredibly sad?" Aurora sobs and now he's taken aback. "It's not fair that you have suffered and were so lonely since you were a child. You don't deserve this, nobody does. You weren't genuinely happy even once and I'm so sorry that you weren't. I just don't understand why you have such a cruel life."
He doesn't know what to say, still processing her compassion. Aurora cares so much about him, just as much as his mother but in a different way. "You mustn't cry because of me."
"I'm crying for you, because I know you're too proud to cry." Aurora wipes her tears away, swallowing hard. "It's not your fault that she died, you couldn't prevent it, Loki. Don't blame yourself, she wouldn't have wanted this."
Loki ignores her words although they were a healing balm for his pain. His guilt is still too fresh. "You should sleep. Come on, it'll improve your well being."
He stands up and offers her his hand to pull her up. Without a warning, Loki just decides to pick her up and carry her to his huge bed instead of helping her to walk. Aurora is light as a feather and she's not bothered by getting carried, too tired and exhausted to fight against it.
Laying her down, Loki tucks her in and a little sigh leaves Aurora's lips. It must have been an eternity since she has slept with a blanket, another reason why both are glad that the wall is taken down.
"Loki...?" Aurora's eyes are already closed and her mind slowly drifts off. The fallen prince sits down next to her, watching her cautiously.
"Yes?"
"I would choose you, too."
A/N- Compared to other Loki FFs, I won't include Thanos. For that, I'll use my Infinity War FF ;) Btw, Black Panther was L I T
Dedicated to @13CapJackSparrow