Status : Incomplete
“BLEAH!!” Loki burst out as he woke up, sat vigorously up from a bed and violently shoving away whatever it was that he smelled. It smelled badly and he had never imagined anything to smell so strong that he even felt like he tasted and swallowed it down to his stomach, making him feel like throwing up. Loki turned to one side and indeed threw up into a bucket that seemed to be readily placed there for him. By the time he was done throwing up, he felt his condition improving.
“Are you feeling better now?” Nataku was smiling as she sat by the bed and held a thumb-sized bottle in her hand.
“What… What was that?” The odor reeked so bad that he somehow forgot his nervousness around her.
“It’s a secret medicine of my family.” She was still smiling, hiding a giggle so as probably not to offend him, “It helps people regain consciousness by waking up the senses and then vomit to relieve much of the sickness or stress.”
“By that stench, I could’ve sworn Cerberus exhaled at me.” Loki said, waving the odor away from his face.
“But it works, doesn’t it?” she laughed this time, “And you’re funny.”
“Funny?”
“Yes.” Nataku got up and covered the bottle as she walked towards a small table, “I mean, joking around like Cerberus like that, not even worrying if Persephone will hear you.”
“Perse– I’m not afraid of her.” Loki shrugged, “Who does she think she is anyway?”
Nataku laughed again.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.” She said, closing the drawer, “You talk like you know Persephone and her three-headed beast.”
“Well, I…” Loki began and stopped, biting his lip. It did not seem like a good idea to tell her who he really was.
“What’s important is that you’re fine now. Thanks to the medicine that reeks so bad.” She said, sitting on the bed and chuckled.
“I didn’t mean it that way…” he looked down sheepishly.
“I just don’t understand why you plunged into the lake like that all of a sudden.” She blinked, “What happened? Where are you from?”
Loki did not see that coming. His happiness that he was actually talking to Nataku made him miss that he could not say he was from Asgard or that he was the Aesir Loki. He had always been proud when he introduced himself because he was, after all, the son of the Divine Couple, one of the two princes of Asgard. But this time was different because he was not to tell her he was an Aesir and him being an Aesir of Darkness might not make a good impression. Besides, who on Midgard would believe that he was a god that fell from Asgard and got drowned?
“I came falling… from the sky.” He replied mindlessly, his vision going past Nataku as he continued to think.
“What?”
“I…” Loki snapped back to attention, “I mean, I… just… I don’t know.”
“You… don’t know…?”
How was he supposed to say that he was taken as sacrifice by the mirror made up of water from Mimir’s Well?
“You don’t know?” Nataku repeated again, her eyes looking at him tenderly as she spoke, “Or you don’t remember?”
“I…” Loki didn’t want to lie but he didn’t want to tell the truth and he sighed, “Yes.”
“Oh…” She straightened, “You must’ve had a bad fall, hit your head or something.”
And Loki could do nothing but nod.
“That’s so sad.” She said again but even before Loki could say anything, there was a great commotion outside. There was rambling running of people, sound of steel hooves on stone, the screams of women, the cries of the children and the battle cries of the men.
“Dark Elves of Svartalfheim…!” Nataku gasped, getting up, picking up a sword and told Loki, “Stay here.”
“No, wait!” Loki grabbed her by the wrist, “It’s too dangerous for you to…”
“Stay here, please, and keep yourself hidden and safe!” Nataku drew her hand back and ran off to the battlefield.
This was horrible. He knew she could use virtually anything into a weapon but he was afraid that she’d get more than she could bargain. After all, she was only a mortal in the middle of a battlefield with Dark Elves. Loki cursed and motioned to go outside, hailing Azaran in his grasp. It was then that streaks of light drew across the sky. The Valkyries were coming down and it was not good that he were to be seen in Midgard.
Loki looked around for Nataku, hacking away as he did. And when he did spot her, he found a Valkyrie and a Dark Elf behind her, motioning to claim her soul and stab her respectively. Loki’s mind voice blasted and with a wave of his hand, from underneath the Dark Elf shot a pillar of darkness that killed him instantly. The Valkyrie then stopped and looked for another soul to claim.
“What are you doing?” said a female voice from above him. Loki looked up and from flying chariot drawn by tigers, a woman in robes and armor hovered towards him.
“Freyja.” He murmured. Not good. He was not supposed to be seen.
“What are you doing here?” she questioned, “That girl is as good as mine.”
“Yours?” Loki growled, “As a Valkyrie?”
“Yes and no.” she said again, hands on waist, eyeing Nataku as the mortal girl fought, “Seeing as I can’t take her to Valhalla since she’s a woman, I’ll turn her into a Valhallian Valkyrie.”
“What…!” Loki gave her a sharp glare. Valhallian Valkyries trained the souls of men in the day where they wear armors and gears. At night, they wore white silken robes, attended to the men during feasts. Asgard created Valhalla and formed its army for them to fight for them on the coming of Ragnarok. As reward, the bodies of these men were taken with them to the afterlife. They have the honor of dining in the halls of Valhalla and the grant to gain pleasure from the Valhallian Valkyries in bed.
“Leave her alone, Freyja.” Loki’s glare was intensifying. His hand wanted to grab her by the neck but didn’t. Instead, Loki snapped at her with the Veil of Oblivion, his own version of Silent Melody. But unlike Silent Melody, Loki is able to erase a selected memory from its victim regardless of him or her being an Aesir or not. However, it has a drawback when used on Aesirs. Loki pays a great deal of cosmic energy and a fourth of his blood at the moment.
Freyja fell unconscious and her chariot swooped down to get her. Loki erased her memory of seeing him. He had wanted to erase her intentions for Nataku but Veil of Oblivion only allows a certain memory to be erased. Loki began to glow eerily and from his back, a sphere carrying a fourth of his blood mixed with cosmic energy phases out. He wavers unbalanced for a moment.
Freyja wants Nataku to become a Valhallian Valkyrie?
“Not going to happen.” Loki grunted and the symbol of darkness swirled in his eyes. The sky darkened, growling with lightning and thunder. From the ground phased two dark creatures with the head and wings of an eagle and a body of a lion – Loki’s Dark Griffins. Loki had secretly created them to somehow match Persephone’s Cerberus but they were still incomplete. However, they were enough to disrupt the battle somehow.
“Terrorize but kill as little as possible. If I leave, have my back.” Loki ordered and his creations squawked in response, carrying out the order as they clawed around the battlefield, alarming all those involved. This bought him time to somehow reach Nataku so that he could take her away from the battlefield.
“What… What are those things!” Nataku gasped, eyeing one Griffin that trashed the soldiers both Humans and Dark Elves alike.
“We have to go.” Loki winced, his sudden loss of blood taking toll on him.
“What happened? You look so pale.”
“That’s not important.” He said again, grabbing her by the arm, “Listen to me, we have to go. There is no one here that can stop those Griffins.”
“Were they sent by Persephone?” she eyed the Griffins.
“What…? No! Persephone doesn’t have Griffins! Now let’s go…!”
“We can’t just leave these people!”
It seemed like there was no use reasoning for her life. For a moment there, Loki felt that she had little value for her life and somehow, her regret her way of thinking. Although he found it attracting that she held others before herself, he just wanted to take her away from the wretched battlefield before any Valkyrie or Freyja herself gets her. He did not want to drag her away because she was a fighter and might just break away from him and run away and get killed eventually.
Now if Odin were here, what would he do?
“Augh.” Loki winced again, the loss of energy and blood still making things a bit harder for him.
That’s right. Use your weakness to your advantage.
“Augh…” This one was fake. Loki sank down to one knee, clutching his chest and faking more coughs. If he she were as concerned for others as he thought she was, then she would abandon the battlefield to take him to safety, which means she’ll be safe, too.
“Wha—He—Hey!” Nataku gasped, picking Loki up, “Are you all right?”
Loki only responded with a groan, shifting his weight so that he’d feel heavier. Nataku lifted him up and put his arm over her shoulders to drag him away. Loki was partly smiling and since Nataku was in a great disadvantage if someone would attack, he took the liberty to secretly blast coming enemies with pillars of darkness. He did not have to worry about back attacks since his Griffins had him covered somehow.
“Too much darkness. Loki, help us.” Nataku said and Loki gasped.
“What?” he managed to say, forgetting for a while that he was supposed to be very weak.
“I know it’s stupid praying to him but…” Nataku said, “Since only a few people pray to him, I bet he’ll hear me.”
“I…”
Even before Loki could reply, there was the sound of breaking wood and a squawk from one of the Griffins. As they turned, what they saw was the flying broken ballista. Nataku screamed in surprise and panic as the big weapon hurled towards them. Loki pushed her down and covered her before waving and a dome of darkness surrounded them to shield them from danger. The large weapon crashed on and then off the shield, the impact somehow jarring the inside of the dome but Loki kept it on. And he sighed, lifting his shoulder to see Nataku under him. It was pretty dim but he could still see the details he wanted to see.
Her eyes were shut tightly, her arms covering her head and her legs bent to curl herself as she shook. The paleness of her was obvious and he could feel her shake against his body. Loki gave off half a smile and waited for her to orient herself to her surroundings. By and by, she opened her eyes and looked up, seeing him and the darkness that shielded them. She looked around perplexingly, only her eyes speaking; wondering what had happened. Loki watched as she crawled towards one side and touched the arched wall of darkness that protected them from the havoc outside. Her fingers touched the nothingness that ironically safeguarded them and she gasped, drawing her hand back.
“This is…” she muttered.
“Darkness.” He replied, too engrossed with looking at her to even say anything more.
“But… But where… why?”
“Maybe he heard you praying.”
“Lo… Loki…”
It was mind-blowing. His name escaped her lips in what he assumed to be an imploring sigh. It was more than enough to make him smile.