Athelia sat with her back against the cool wall as the reality of what she was about to do finally began to settle. There was a good chance it would work, but she also knew there was an even greater chance that it wouldn't. The risk was well worth it in her eyes though, which is why she told no one aside from the man no one would believe.
Loki hadn't spoken a word since Athelia had verbally assaulted him with all of her problems. He was never one for listening. He always had a smart remark or retort to throw, but he found himself at a loss for words as he watched Athelia bounce a ball against the glass. Her possible death was playing heavy on the heart he had realized she had.
Neither of them knew what to say to the other. They weren't friends. They weren't enemies. They weren't even sure they trusted one other, but there they sat. Athelia talked and Loki listened like he was her own personal diary.
In the short amount of time they had spent together, they had found a comfortable silence. It had been two days since Athelia made her choice and the time she had promised Frigga was nearly up and she knew the Queen was now out of options. There was nothing else they could do except watch the girl wither away in front of them and Athelia refused. So she came here, while Frigga and her maidens, scoured the Asgardian library, trying to find anything that could help Athelia destroy the Aether, rather than absorb it.
She sighed heavily and gripped the ball tightly before striking the glass barrier once again.
"If you're attempting to break me out, you might want to throw it a little harder."
Loki chuckled, not taking his eyes away from the page he was pretending to read.
She ignored his comment and continued to toss the ball, watching the sparks of the electric barrier shoot through the glass pain with each hit.
"Fine, be mute... Again," he groaned as he leaned back against his bed. "But, if you are not going to entertain me than I would like to get some sleep."
Athelia kept her gaze away from him as he settled back into his pillow. She heard him flipping through the pages of the book she had brought him and finally stood. She had sat in silence for nearly two days, she couldn't blame him for wanting her gone.
"Do you think it will work?"
Athelia stopped pacing and turned back towards him, her emotionless eyes catching his. She was about to leave to find Thor, but an overwhelming urge to explore the concern his eyes took over. "I hope so."
"And if it doesn't?"
"Then it doesn't."
"Then you die," he said, biting back the anger that suddenly flooded him. He knew there was a chance that she could fail and still survive, but even then, he somehow knew she would lose herself completely. What he wasn't sure of, was why he cared. "Why do you care so much about saving her? You don't owe her anything."
"I owe her everything." She huffed and fell back against the wall again. "I never realized it until now, but she is one of the reasons I haven't tried everything in my power to return to Dorian and defend my kingdom the way I would have years ago."
"You would go to war rather than marry Thir" He chuckled, placing the book down on his nightstand.
She shook her head. "I thought about it for the longest time and then he took me back... But, it didn't feel like I thought it would." She inhaled deeply. "Maybe it is because I did not get to see what was truly going on, but, the only joy I found at that moment was watching your brother tumble over his own feet and Freya smiling. I can't watch her die."
"People die every day."
"Not the people I care about." She whispered, almost embarrassed to admit that young Freya meant something to her.
"Especially the people you care about." He countered. "You're going to be a queen and you know better than anyone, that it will put a target on those that stand beside you. Especially on Dorian."
"Not if I can do anything about it."
"No," he sighed. "There is nothing you can do about it. Not about her. All you are going to do is throw it away because you feel bad for a choice she made."
"She would do it for me."
"Because you are her queen, Athelia." He snapped. "It is what people do. They die for the crown and whoever wears it. It's the way the universe works."
Athelia paused, a sudden anger pulsing through her. His words cut through and deep down she knew he was right, but she also couldn't accept it. A year ago the death of the young girl wouldn't have phased her. She knew she probably would have been the one sending the weakling to her death, but their time on Asgard changed her and she hadn't realized just how much, until now.
"My life is no more meaningful than anybody else's."
"You're a Goddess and a Queen, Athelia. Act like it. They are beneath you, they are worthless in the grand scheme of things. The only thing that matters
"Is that why you killed all those humans?" She scoffed. "Because you are a God, so they are beneath you?
Loki sat back, clicking his tongue as he watched her. Her words played in his mind as his fingers grew cold and he scowled at her. "They are beneath me."
Athelia chuckled as the familiar disdain crossed his sharp face. He gave her the same look the day they met and he felt the same surge of adrenaline as she stepped towards him slowly. There was no doubt in his mind that she had tried to get close to him to unearth his truth and wasn't surprised that after all the silent meetings and their previous encounter, she was still attempting to dig.
"Why do you hide, instead of letting me help you?"
"I don't need help Athelia. I'm quite content where I am." He kept his voice low, not in the mood to defend himself against a girl with a death wish. "Now, if you don't mind, I would very much like to be left alone."
"Content? Is that why you pace? Loki you read the same books over and over again. You eat the same sludge every day and stare at the same four walls. How can you be content with that?"
"Because I know where I belong."
Her heart clenched tightly as she watched him. For someone to think so lowly of themselves was pathetic, especially when she knew he was destined for great things.
"You really should leave."
"I'm not going anywhere until you talk to me," she insisted stepping towards him. "And I mean talk. I enjoy our conversations I really do, but I can not keep sneaking down here to see you."
"I don't see why it matters, you're probably going to die tomorrow anyway."
"Loki -"
"Enough!" He shouted at her, causing the lights around them to flicker. "I don't care what you want from me or why keep coming here, but I've grown tired of it."
"If you did not care, you would not get so defensive."
"I'm not defensive," he quipped back.
"Then why are you holding a dagger?"
She stared down at the small blade that he held tightly out of view. Her arms crossed as she found herself staring into his dark green eyes as he smirked, basking in the rage that wouldn't leave him.
He whipped his arm out and she watched his small blade slip between his slender fingers. A chill ran through her body as he held it up in front of her.
"I think it best if you leave now."
"Are you going to stab me if I don't?"
He narrowed his eyes at, but her scowl faded as she wrapped her fingers around his and pulled the dagger towards her. She felt the slight tingle as she slid the tip down her chest towards her sternum and watched his eyes widen as he tried to pull away from her grip, proving her point.
Trickles of blood dripped down her chest as her skin healed immediately behind the blade as it moved slowly, coating his fingers and making it easier for him the slip from her grip.
"You're crazy, do you know that." Her eyes met his and she watched the confusion puddle in his green eyes. "What are you trying to do here Athelia? Don't even know?"
"I'm giving you one last chance to save your own life. You're going to die down here or go mad and I can't go, knowing there was more I could do for you."
"Nobody asked you to help me."
"Your mother did."
Loki's jaw hung as he meddled through the moments they had spent together. He had his suspicions and she had confirmed every single one of them.
"I knew it," he chuckled, his voice gravitating to a deadly level that made every bit of Athelia's swirl. "Did you truly think it would work? Confiding in me. Telling me all your secrets hoping I would do the same for you?"
"No."
"Then why? Why do you keep coming back here?" He growled at her.
"Because you don't deserve to rot in this cell and if I am to be truly honest, this might be the last chance you ever have to gain your freedom. You're not a monster Loki. Just tell me who betwixt you and you can be rid of this place, your brother can go to Midgard with Jane and -"
Loki chuckled, interrupting her plea. "And what? You can go home and I can become king of Asgard?"
"You make it sound as if it is more horrifying than spending the rest of your life in this cell." She said. "Loki you deserve to be happy."
"But you don't care about my happiness Athelia, so stop pretending that you do. You just don't want to die with unfinished business. You want the truth so badly, I'll give it to you." He seethed. "You can't save me and you can't save Freya, because you're just like me. You're a whore for power and no amount of good you do will ever outweigh the evil you have done."