//------------------------------// // We Both Shall Dine In Hell Tonight // Story: We Remember Everything // by Thunderscourge //------------------------------// A/N: Special thanks to Ally of the Daleks, New Spark, Ketvirtas, gakuseiakira, King Sombrony, ArcaneVisions, Killabyte, Drgnwolf, Zeroinfinity, MoonSparkle The Vampony, KillerCookie123, PhantomPhoenix, A Wandering Wizard, type13, and Fear the Dark for your comments last chapter! It is great comments like those that keep me writing despite! Thank you, and I hope to continue hearing from you all! Chapter title now brought to you by Disturbed's "The Animal" Next person who goes "OHMAIGOD DA STORAY IS ENDIN" or something along those lines deserves a slap to the face. We ain't even in act 2, people. Stop claiming that and giving people the wrong idea when I keep claiming the contrary. It's seriously annoying, especially when I address the same people about it multiple times. I'd love to hear what you have to think afterwards in the comments, and remember, comments are ! “Loki.” Even with Thor bothering him, Loki would take the time to respond. “Loki?” The complete lack of any emotion radiating from Loki, and the now yellow pendant on Luna’s chest made her body tense up. “Loki!” Luna had almost just lost Trixie, and losing Loki all of a sudden would be too much to bear. Still at the edge of the cottage belonging to Fluttershy, Luna also still had Discord by her. The chimera being was watching her with interest, not able to hear her telepathy but still able to observe her growing worry. Luna was actually shaking a bit, which made Discord actually grow somewhat concerned. This was the dreaded Nightmare Moon quaking in her blue slippers after all. Desperate to make sure that everything was fine, “Discord, you said you have visited Loki’s realm before. Bring me there now.” Discord’s slight worry shifted to indignation, “Wait just one minute, I never said it was easy or that I could take passengers. It takes me a few minutes to just make a one way trip by myself. I’m not sure how long it will take with you in tow.” “Well then start, and hurry while you do so!” Discord relented to Luna, not wanting to see just what she would do to him if he resisted, “Fine, fine, I’ll see what I can do. No promises though.” Luna hoped to see what was wrong before it was too late. Unfortunately, it was a fool’s errand either way. “It is commendable that you were able to lay a single scratch on me Allfather, but this fight is over.” That scratch was one against Thanos’s forearm, where Odin had struck with all of his Asgardian might. The attack had actually cracked the armor there, which in turn cut the purple arm it guarded. That attack was allowed by Thanos, who had no reason to dodge it. He wanted to see just how powerful the Allfather was after all, and found himself impressed in some ways by the great strength demonstrated. It did not stop him from evading every follow up strike, or punching straight through Odin’s golden armor into the Allfather’s gut. Thanos made sure not to pierce the skin, only striking him hard enough to knock the wind out of him. Odin was knocked on the floor by two follow up strikes before he could even move to react. Thanos had made his point, and with a lazy stretch of his arms walked over to Loki’s unconscious body, “I came here for four things. I have one, and I have three more to obtain before I depart.” The purple humanoid bent down to sling the prince over his back. Loki had fought too, and it was even more pathetic than his warrior father. He had been caught even more off guard, and had not managed to call upon his magic to either fight or flee. On the way out of Loki’s room, Thanos stepped on one of Odin’s twitching arms to break the limb in a sickening snap. “Death is a harsh mistress. Consider yourself lucky you will not be meeting her today.” Yells and screams echoed down the castle corridors that night. Intelligent enough to not go running out into the mess was Frigga, who instead conjured her illusory self down in the direction the screams were coming from. She had conjured it right behind one soldier as luck would have it, so Frigga spoke to get his attention. “What is the matter?” The soldier was too busy talking to the others in his group to hear her though, “What is that thing!? It’s defeated everyone—” The wall nearby the soldier erupted and through it came a charging purple figure. It collided with the man and his limp body went flying across the hall, even slamming into one of his fellow guards. Frigga observed the newcomer causing the ruckus, and to her surprise she could see Loki draped over its shoulder. The being had a very humanoid body and appearance, though its jaw was an elongated rectangle most definitely not of Asgardian or human origin. The remaining guards, four of the elite and powerful Einherjar guard that protected the castle, found themselves reduced by another two when the massive being continued its fast charge into them. They were trampled underfoot by him as the being prepared to swing a massive arm at one of the other two. “That’s impossible! How can someone so big move so quickly!?” By the time Frigga could dissapitate her illusion, the two other guards had fallen. That being had her son, which mostly confirmed who they were for the Queen. A being powerful enough to not only take Loki but barrel through the Einherjar could only be the very one that Loki feared so greatly. The one who had threatened and led him into great misdeeds. Still, seeing her son harmed in such a way and taken was gripping Frigga’s heart. “Loki…” Frigga stood still in her chambers. She was unable to protect Loki once again… Her eyes shot wide open at the realization that she had just sent her husband to speak with Loki. Casting another illusion that could grant her sight now in Loki’s room, Frigga was met with the disturbing sight. The room was not in some great disheveled state, but her husband lay on the ground with a hole in his armor and a crushed arm. “Odin!” Elsewhere in the castle the main rampage had stopped. There simply were no guards left to throw at the giant who marched through the building at his own pace, a trail of broken bodies in his wake. It was with no resistance that Thanos found the main vault of Asgard, its regular guards having rushed to help their helpless allies earlier. However, upon entering the seemingly unguarded armory, a regal broadsword swung down at the monster. Thanos reacted instinctively and caught the blade in his hand. Wielding the blade was none other than Asgard’s finest warrior and guardian, Heimdall, who had thrown all of his might into the strike only for Thanos’s hand to stop the whole momentum and blade. A gash formed on the intruder’s hand, causing a smile to come to his face. “Well done. Few could nearly catch me off guard like that.” Heimdall tried to continue pressing down with the blade to increase the wound given, but it did not budge an inch and the all seeing man grunted, “I saw your battle with the Allfather and anticipated your next movement. I do not know how you entered this realm, but I will make sure you depart.” Thanos let go of the sword and sidestepped the resulting swing, “The warrior Heimdall. I understand that your power is of equal amount to the Allfather, only you have brought a weapon.” Thanos stopped moving and held his arms out while tossing Loki off his shoulder with a shrug, “Come at me, strike, Guardian. I desire to see what you can do.” With Loki no longer at all in the way, Heimdall did not hold back while lunging at Thanos and swinging with his own massive might. The sword crashed into Thanos’s side and cracked the armor there enough to burrow inside and slit the skin there. Heimdall drew his sword back to increase the damage, but Thanos lowered a hand to it and gripped the blade without blinking. He was even still smiling, more amused by the brief experiences of pain than perturbed by them. “Impressive. A strong blow for a warrior who cares not for the prince I am abducting.” Heimdall struggled to free his blade, but it did not budge an inch, “My loyalty to the King and his family is not hampered by my distaste for the prince. You will let him go or be slain.” “Is that so?” With a crack and then disgusting squirt of blood, the broadsword shattered in Thanos’s grip. Heimdall reacted quickly and tossed aside the now useless handle, during which Thanos laughed at his now bleeding hand. “With that weapon?” Heimdall withdrew two small swords barely larger than daggers to swing at his foe who dare harm the royalty, but he was stopped in his tracks by Thanos grabbing his wrists and swinging him into the nearby door with unnatural speed. As Heimdall crumpled to the floor Thanos began to look around the room with a delighted splendor. He was looking for two objects in particular, and could not wait until he did come across them. While Thanos began to talk to himself outloud, Heimdall prepared to throw a sword as a projectile at the super powerful being, “I desire the Tesseract and the Infinity Gauntlet. I could have waited to gain them, but since I was sent on an errand by my lady I thought I may as well make one trip.” The sword embedded itself in the upper arm of Thanos, who promptly ignored it as he continued to look around the room. The sight of the glowing blue Tesseract had caught his eye, and he maneuvered over to it. Heimdall could see the fight he was waging was a losing one, but he did not give up. He stood straight up, shrugging off the pain in his back as he gripped his one remaining weapon, “Errand?” The being cackled with mad laughter as he found the last object he desired. It was a gauntlet with slots on it for objects to be inserted into, and Thanos could not be more pleased, “I would not want you all to spoil her fun, so I will leave things at that.” With both of the items in tow, Thanos cast a glance back at the approaching Heimdall. A glint grew in his eye as a smile crept onto his face, and Asgard’s guardian found himself having the Tesseract’s container smashed down into his head mid-charge. “Farewell, sir Heimdall. Your valiant fight may have been futile, but you are a man of your word just as I am.” Thanos knelt down to both retrieve Loki and to whisper to the fallen warrior. “I will be back when I am ready to end your lives. There will be no battle that day. Only slaughter.” After picking Loki and tossing the defeated prince on top of his own body again, Thanos stood up with a smile befitting of one who just learned the love of their life was going to marry them. “One to go.” Thanos had expected there to be people helping guards to the medical chambers, but also could see how maybe the members of the castle still able to walk might not want to leave their chambers. After all, that would mean running into him possibly. Not to mention the confusion and chaos all they must be thrown into. Seeing a woman in silk standing at the front of the medical chamber did surprise him. The sword she held in her hand surprised him further, as the ladies of Asgard were not known for being warriors. Still, the giant man found himself impressed by her gall. “Lady Frigga, how good of you to join us. I am Thanos, and I am here for that blue horse I hear is in your care here.” Frigga stood unflinchingly as Thanos approached her. Her hand was tightly gripped around the sword she took from a fallen warrior on the trip. Thinking that someone there to harm her family might take it the next step and possibly harm more of it, Frigga had rushed to the sleeping Trixie’s side. “Tell me, monster, what it is you are doing. Why have you not taken a life?” On her way Frigga tad taken note of the conditions of her soldiers, and found no fatal wounds on any. Many broken limbs, but nothing that would be fatal for them. Thanos bowed to her, with Loki’s unconscious body swaying while Thanos shifted his loot from the vault in his arms, “I was asked not to. I do keep my word after all, unfortunately.” He raises to his full large height to let out a hearty bellow, “Unfortunate for your men that is. It meant I had to hurt them enough to rend them incapable of combat but not dead. A simple flick could have done the job to kill them, but I instead had to break their limbs and backs.” Self-restraint, intelligence, and years of being a lady kept Frigga from striking him after his mockery. Thanos could tell that under her stoic glare at him that she was boiling, and he approached her to see if she would do anything. Frigga did move, but it was to toss her sword aside. The blood of her men was coated on this monster, and one of Heimdall’s blades stuck out of his upper arms. She knew when to not fight, and this was one such case. “You have carved through our men and defeated my husband and the guardian of our realm. I would stand in your way if I could, but we both know that to be a fool’s errand.” Thanos continued his laugh, now walking past Frigga into the medical room, “Correct. Congratulations milady, you are the first to not blindly fight me this day. I do value intelligence. I see where your son received it from.” As Thanos began to poke around the room, Frigga regretted not arriving sooner. She could have hidden Trixie and possibly prevented him from finding her, but she had only gotten there moments before Thanos himself, “Tell me, did you come through the backdoors Loki knows of?” Thanos took notice of the only horse in the ward quite quickly and lumbered over to her, “Yes. They were among the first things I pried from his mind. Disappointed in him?” Frigga dared not look back to see the being she was letting down right then, “If you are to take her and my son, do so already.” With a purple hand Thanos gripped Trixie by the scruff of her neck and carelessly lifted the comatose equine into the air, “I see that being demanding runs in the family from one generation to the next. Very well. I have no further purpose here and will take my leave.” As he made to leave, Thanos looked down to the lady who had nearly confronted him, “I would be careful who you confront in the future. Not all foes will be as lenient as me. I have no reason to harm you, but others may one day.” With that, the purple giant left the medical ward and the castle both, leaving Frigga behind to curse herself for her own weakness. Loki’s eyes flickered as he was tossed to the cold, damp ground carelessly. His head was splitting with pain, yet that was the least of his problems. The land beneath him was beginning to shift into an icy plain from its previous swamplike state, and laying across from him was the unmoving body of Trixie. As Loki struggled to get his body up, both from pain and difficulty with the ice, he could hear Thanos’s voice speaking to him as it began to grow farther. “Now, you two have fun. I have worlds to burn and artifacts to find.” Loki could not rise from his position with how disorientated he was, but he could gasp out with pain. “Thanos…” His captor, who had defeated an army of beings known to be physical gods as if they were mere playthings, turned back with a sinister grin. “I will not be your jailer. I hear someone else wants to have a conversation with you. My mistress will visit you when she is ready, but for now you can enjoy the company of others.” The lumbering footsteps of Thanos faded soon enough, which left Loki with no-one to speak to. He had no idea where he was, and a cursory glance around revealed that above the frigid ice beneath him was a hazy mist that shrouded anything more than ten feet away in darkness. Just as Loki mustered the strength to rise from his position on the ice, a foot caught him on the side of the ribs. He howled in pain as a voice gruffly addressed him. “Stand, runt. We have business to settle.” “Lady Frigga! What happened here? Are you okay?” The only thing that could have made Frigga feel worse as she tended to the wounded that night was Luna’s worried voice, so of course that was just what she encountered. Frigga turned to see that Luna had appeared in her humanoid form along with some other being, one she assumed transported the princess given their sudden appearance. Frigga opened her mouth to speak, but found herself pausing when she met Luna’s watering eyes. The queen’s heart broke a second time that night, now having to tell her son’s lover about how he was taken. “Dear. Sit down. Please.” The appearance of ice on the ground made sense to Loki after a blue skinned giant dragged him to his feet. It was not any giant though, not even any Frost Giant, but rather an intimately familiar one. Intimately, as in Loki had killed the man. Disintegrated him with the all powerful Gungnir, Odin’s very own weapon. “Laufey,” Loki coughed out while his true father lifted him into the air with a tight hand around the wayward son’s throat. “Odinson,” Laufey snarled before throwing Loki back. His son stumbled back many steps before finding his footing on the ice, with a former grass patch giving him traction even as ice began to form over it. Loki could not believe what he was seeing, even despite the physical action Laufey had just taken. The Frost Giant father looked upon his son with scorn as the younger Giant tried to make sense of what was happening. “An apparition?” Loki questioned with a furrowed brow. It was all that could make sense to him, given that Laufey could not have just risen from the dead to assault him. If he could he would have already. Laufey held out a palm, a frozen dagger forming within it from the moisture in the air around them, “Does it feel like that?” Loki could sense where this was going, and reached to grab a hidden dagger in his shirt. Only his hand ran through nothing. Loki tried to keep the surprise from his face as he realized that Thanos had assaulted him while his shirt was off and he was in bed. He had nothing but his moon pendant and pants, having had his magical pocket raided and emptied when taken into captivity on Asgard. “How can you be alive?” Loki growled angrily as he realized just how much trouble he was in now. His father was a foe that could keep Odin at bay, who in turn was on the same level of physical combat as Thor. Loki now only had what little energy he could conjure into spells to defend himself. “I only know that I was approached by a familiar figure after waking here. You seem to know him now as well. He has taught me much,” Laufey pointed his dagger menacingly at his son before dragging it across the front of his own throat symbolically, “Runt.” With a quick leap Laufey swiped the ice blade at Loki. Loki could only slide to the side to avoid the strike, not having the footing to easily roll one way or block the attack. This did nothing to deter Laufey, who was much more accustomed to fighting on the slippery surface that coated the ground. He took a quick turn to swing the blade straight at Loki’s throat, only for the younger Frost Giant to duck down beneath the blade’s arc. Loki may have dodged the deadly strike, but he could not react to the uppercut that followed in time. Loki fell onto his back and felt his spine connect with the ice that was coating the previously earthy surface. Despite his own tolerance for the cold, Loki felt a jolt go up his spine at the sudden contact with the frigid surface again. Laufey spat down at Loki as the latter tried, and failed, to get back up on his feet. “You are no Frost Giant. You should have died like you were meant to.” “You think I have not tried?” Loki shouted in anger, his temper flaring at his own inability to combat in this terrain, his situation itself, and from his burning hatred of his birth father. His words, however, were no exaggeration or lie. He had tried taking his life when he dropped into the abyss beneath the Bifrost. Instead he had wound up in an unknown world where he was given a reason to live again. Laufey crouched down to Loki and lowered the ice blue blade to Loki’s gut, “I will fulfill your death wish to avenge our people. The race you would have destroyed if not for the mercy of Odin and his true son.” Laufey pressed the blade into Loki’s stomach slowly, just barely cutting the skin but bringing forth a reaction in the skin itself. Where normally Loki had pale white skin to contrast with his raven hair, the skin shifted into a blue hue not all too different from Laufey’s own. As Laufey began to slowly add pressure to the blade and focus on that he lost sight of a hand that soon found its balled fist crashing into his face. Laufey spiraled on the ice to gain distance and growled in condemnation at Loki, who through a burst of adrenaline found the energy to rise to his own feet. “Why fight death if you desire it so?” Loki sneered at the father who abandoned him to die as an infant, “I won’t give you the satisfaction.” The king of the Frost Giants glared at Loki with hatred when he realized Loki had used that moment of respite to form an ice blade of his own. The fact that Loki would dare use one of their racial traits when he tried committing genocide on them made Laufey seethe. “Like Odin I had first hoped you to be a solution to the feud between our people,” Laufey moved one way to feint, then swiped at Loki from another with a quickly formed dagger, “Your mother was Æsir, and a prince of mixed heritage could be a useful tool.” Loki parried the blow, but the impact made him slide back and gave him time to question what was just said, “My mother?” Laufey found himself mirroring Loki’s earlier sneer, “Some nameless wench. She died bearing you, unable to handle the subzero conditions involved.” “If I was so useful, why leave me to die? Because I-” His father gave him no time to question further, instead leaping straight at him and attempting to stab Loki. Loki would normally use his magic to form illusions, but he was feeling drained of his energy for some reason he could not fathom. Instead he attempted to avoid it, through it still nicked his side. Like a skater, Laufey spun around backwards to deliver a roundhouse kick to Loki as the latter stumbled on the ice. This would have sent Loki reeling if he had not raised his arms to block it. The son gave a riposte, though Laufey caught Loki’s dagger between his two own. Using his greater force and a twist of his own daggers, Laufey disarmed Loki and threw him onto the ground. This time Loki made no move to resist, his will to fight leaving him. Fortunately Laufey made no move to finish him, instead standing over him with a scowl, “To have a son so small, fragile and weak would be a disgrace to our people. I did the honorable thing and left you to die, instead of subjecting you to a life of hardship you would not survive.” “What do you want?” Loki gasped as the pain in his side and stomach caught up with him. Laufey pointed his main dagger at Loki before tossing it down to impale the ground directly to the right of Loki’s head, “I desire you to die, as I made have made clear. But I can wait. I am not the only phantom waiting for you in this place. I only need wait for the right moment.” With that, Laufey turned to leave without any explanation. Loki shivered in fear on the ice as he watched his father fade into the thick mists of the setting. After a moment of controlled breathing, Loki coughed and rose to his feet. He had no idea what this place was, but if his father was living and breathing there it might happen to be the afterworld. A place for the passed souls who had not deserved to get into the fabled Valhalla. The place said to have no souls escape, only endless torment and misery. Hel itself. Loki laughed at the notion. If that were true then Thanos could not have left him there to meet his father— Loki’s eyes widened as he realized in the spur of the moment he had completely forgotten Trixie. He had no great personal attachment to the young mare, but Luna was increasingly fond of her. To let anything happen to her would be a doubly damning event. Loki cast aside whatever thoughts about where his location was to instead focus on locating the blue, comatose mare. Sure enough, even in the thick mist, Loki managed to find her where she had been left by Thanos. “Come on,” Loki said to her uselessly as he picked her up in his arms. He may be bleeding, but he needed to take her to a safer place where he could actually do something about his own wound. Loki scoffed as he draped Trixie over both shoulders and used his back to support her, “Good thing you are such a lightweight for a horse. Let’s go, before he changes his mind.” He did not take one step before another voice entered the fray. “Leaving so soon?”