~ 6 ~
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Ehehehehehe. Look who it is.
Hi, by the way. First small author's note so far, I'll probably add more of these along the way!
And swoon over Tom, too.
Enjoy reading!
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The room was gigantic. A row of guards on each side lead to a staircase with a large, golden throne above. I kept my mouth from opening in awe. The man sitting in the seat was similar to Thor in many ways, except for his age and an eyepatch covering one of his eyes.
The both of us stopped a few steps from the stairs, and I followed Thor's example and kneeled down. I felt completely out of place in my denim jeans and white shirt. All these people wore gold, armour and capes while I was just incredibly glad that I, in my drunken state, had decided to put on my Timberlands and not the worn-out sneakers I usually wore.
After a short moment, a booming voice sent shivers down my spine.
"I am Odin, protecter of the Nine Realms and king of Asgard."
He spoke, and it took everything I had to not look up. I felt somewhat threatened by this man. I couldn't catch Thor's eye either, since he was solely focused on hearing what his father had to say.
"I requested your presence, since a very pressing matter has been brought to my attention. You have abilities, strange ones. They are something we have not yet come to explain, and that is a problem.
"For now, it does not matter how much you know or understand about what you are. What you do need to realise however, is that your powers pose a great threat for us."
I realised he was speaking to me, and not to his son. The word 'threat' made me flinch. How in the world could I be a threat to anyone in this state? Besides scaring my best friend to death, I had done nothing but walk through a wall.
I cringed.
I walked through a wall. Nothing odd there.
"This is why we have decided it is best for us if you remain here. We will have to examine you, hopefully resulting in an explanation for what you are and a solution for it."
Most of his words didn't even register in my brain. What I did hear, was the 'what' I am. Had it really gone that far? Had this 'ability', as this king called it, taken away the fact that I was human? Apparently I was a what, now. The thought scared me more than I would ever dare to admit.
"Son."
Odin now turned to the blond man, who lifted his head to answer to his father. The king gestured him to come closer, and the both of them silently discussed something. I couldn't overhear a thing, until Thor loudly exclaimed something.
"She is to be treated as our guest, not our prisoner!"
That made me look up. I found both men staring at me, including a woman whom I hadn't spotted before. Her face was kind, her eyes worried. I couldn't tell for who.
"You want to lock me up? Like a criminal?"
I spoke without permission, and I could see the regret in Thor's eyes. Nobody else moved a limb.
"And then what? You want to examine me and experiment on me?"
Odin left his son's side. He now stood in front of me, a few steps up. I was still with my knee on the ground, but I looked him straight in the eye.
"We shall do what has to be done to remain peace."
I huffed. First I found out I'm a freak, then I got kidnapped to some realm and now this?
"No! I'm not going to allow you to do whatever you want with me. There are millions of people on earth who murder and hurt each other every day, yet you take me away. There's absolutely no reason to keep me here! I'm not special, I'm not a threat and I sure as hell am not an experiment for the likes of you."
I spat, then pushed myself up from the floor to both the king's and my surprise. I turned my back towards him, ready to leave this place. Or this room, at the very least.
I knew whatever I was doing was stupid, unrealistic even. But what other possibility did I have?
Two guards stepped in front of me and blocked my path. When I turned around to tell the old man to order the idiots to move, two more moved to stop me.
"Don't-"
I felt my throat constricting, and when more soldiers joined the circle my breaths started to become irregular and short.
One of them reached out to me. I stepped back, only to feel the cold iron of one's armor against my spine. No. I turned around, stepped back again. More of them.
"Don't touch me!"
I yelled when a man's hand found it's way around my wrist.
They were everywhere.
I struggled away from him, but others replaced him.
Hands, pulling and pushing me. Not violently, but demanding. Their voices trying to get me to stop resisting. Their faces were emotionless. I closed my eyes.
Hands everywhere. Breathing in my neck. Metal against my skin. Deep voices saying vague things. All of the hairs on my body raised. Background noises that became louder and louder, giving me a headache. My own chest irregularly moving up and down, hurting. The feeling of iron wire around my throat. My teeth biting down on my dry lips.
Then it stopped.
I felt nothing.
The voices were still there. They sounded confused, even threatened. I decided to open my eyes again. They had all moved a few steps back. I tried to breathe.
My hands were shaking, so I spread them and looked at them.
"What?"
I almost whispered.
The same, purple colour as before surrounded my hands. My arms. My legs. My entire body.
But now I wasn't walking through walls. Now I was... What was I? My entire body was shaking, it seemed, as if it was no longer solid. When I curled up my fist, I could still feel texture. I frowned.
I was glitching.
Like in a bad video game, in which some of the coding wasn't done yet. One that was never supposed to launch. Never supposed to exist. My code was all wrong, my zero's and one's didn't fit together. I was wrong.
I tried taking a deep breath, only succeeding slightly. Calm down, I told myself repeatedly.
I didn't.
One of the soldiers decided he wasn't scared of whatever I was, and stepped forward to grab my arm. The metal around his hand felt like it burned into my skin, but nothing happened.
I was still there. I didn't hurt him. My body didn't drag both him and me through a wall.
He pushed my hands together in front of me and put big-looking cuffs around them.
"Take her."
Odin ordered the guard behind me, who was trying to keep my trembling body standing. I stole a glance of Thor's face before I was taken away, but couldn't make out what he felt or thought. Then I heard footsteps behind us, and I assumed the prince had decided to follow us.
~
The doors slammed shut, making me jump.
Why was I special?
Why was I different?
Why would this Protector of Realms want me here?
It didn't add up. Nothing did.
I lifted my cuffed wrists to rub the sides of my head. My ice cold hands felt refreshing against my burning, aching skin. I only now realised the alcohol from the night before had left me with a pretty bad hangover. Bet they didn't have ibuprofen in Asgard, nor in prison.
While I felt most of the physical stress slowly fade away, my mind was anything but peaceful. I felt like I just wanted to take my brain out and put it away until I was okay again. Until I was normal again.
But... This glitch wasn't something I would have to live with. It was something that was separate from me, something I could take out and put away. I knew it. And although I wanted to be nowhere near Odin and the other Asgardians, maybe they were my only chance at getting rid of it.
I was lead through the pillars, some showing the light outside while others didn't. Then we turned left, down some stairs. There were two men guarding, and I heard faint voices in the distance. The hairs on my arms instantly raised, and I cast my eyes down. We reached the final step, entered a hallway, and I allowed myself to look up.
On each side a strange, yellow, see-through wall. Behind it, separate spaces held many people.
The areas were clearly meant to keep the people in. They looked rough, markings on their arms, scars on their faces and disgusting smirks on their lips as their eyes found me. When they looked past me their smiles changed into disgust, and most of them starting yelling and growling. I swallowed, and the guard behind me pushed me forward.
He didn't make me walk far. There were two spacious cells, right next to each other. They were empty, except for the one on the very outer side. A man was settled on the ground in neat black clothes, patiently flipping the pages of a book on his lap. He didn't pay any attention to the guards, the prisoners, their noise or me. His slightly curly black hair just hung in front of his right eye, the strands on the other side of his head tucked behind his ear.
Then, before I realised it, my cuffs were off, the yellow shield was opened and I was pushed in. I looked back to the guards, now also seeing Thor.
"I am sorry."
He spoke, not as loud as he usually was. I recollected myself, looking to my left. That cell was taken, and definitely not by the black-haired man.
"Thor, you can't leave me here."
I desperately whispered and moved towards the yellow border. I felt the many eyes on my left following my every move.
Thor just shook his head, moving a few steps closer to me.
"This energy field is not set to harm you. As I mentioned, you are our guest, but do not misuse this privilege."
"Please, just talk things over with your father! I'm sure we can solve this!"
I now pleadingly moved my hands against the field as well, hoping to somehow make him empathise with me. He didn't.
One of the guards moved forward to tell the prince something about 'Vanaheim'.
I didn't understand, but Thor tensed up.
"We will speak again. I am needed elsewhere."
The god then turned around and followed the guards up the steps.
"No! Thor?! You can't leave me here!"
I screamed after him, now slamming my bawled fists into the wall. Was he really just going to walk away?!
I lost sight of him and loudly cursed. For a second my fists remained bawled at my sides, but then I let out a frustrated sigh and moved to grab my hair.
I turned around.
And my eyes landed on him. He was now looking up from his book, his blue eyes capturing mine. I froze, my lips parted. The left corner of his mouth was curled up.
"What?"
I snapped when my senses came back to me, retrieving my hands from my hair. He didn't say anything, and just looked back down.
Then I spotted the mattress in the corner of my cell, next to the many eyes that watched me. So I did the most reasonable thing that entered my mind and grabbed the bed, pulling it towards the other corner.
I knew my new cell-neighbour was probably judging me, but I ignored it and sat down against the wall, my elbows on my knees and my forehead in my hands.
Before I allowed myself to fall asleep in that uncomfortable position, I managed to get a quick glance of this strange man, who was completely captivated by his book again.