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The floor beneath was made of cold stone. Above hung a black, starless sky. As Leah took her first step forward, she felt the sensation that she was stepping onto something soft and sticky, but as she looked down all she saw were the cracks in the formation and the soles of her shoes had traces of the dust from her cave. She raised her head and shouted:
“Hello?”
Her question bounced back. The sound distorted into a harsh, birdlike chattering that swarmed her ears. Her ears throbbed. She flinched. Foot kicked back then forward. The chattering did not relent. It soared, swooped, growing louder as she quickened her pace. Pecking between the gaps of her fingers, forcing them apart as to assail her ears. She swayed. Hands balled up into fists. Thrashed at the air before the chattering flew through one ear and out the other. Her eyes burned. The blood vessels in her nose burst. Lips numbed as the metallic taste of blood seeped in. Head spun, sending little green stars to dot her vision. Her knees buckled, body sunk, but a force as strong as the one that pulled her into this world, pushed through and she ran.
The terrain stretched with no end in sight. Sharp pains ran up her legs. Blisters crowded her ill fitting shoes. The chattering circled about her head and its talons hooked through her her. The tips of her shoes pressed onto the ground. Her hands clasped over the talons. Fingers shook as she tried to pry them off her.
The chattering shrieked.
For a brief moment everything Leah saw was stars. They vibrated, blended together as one mass, streamed before her in lines before her surroundings crept in. The chattering ceased and Leah looked up. Her eyes widened.
“Loki?” She exclaimed.
He was on curled up on the ground with his back to her. Anger boiled. Leah’s foot slid out. Her shoe crashed onto stone.
“I know you’re listening!” She accused him. “Get up!”
Loki did not answer. Leah’s hand clenched into a fist.
“I’m not going to fall for another one of your tricks! I know you’re not sleeping!”
A gust of wind blew. It ruffled Leah’s hair and prickled at her flushed and sore skin. It passed over Loki. The creases in his tunic fluttered. His body remained still. From where his arm would lay on the opposite side, the wind picked up a black and white feather. It drifted up and out of sight.
“You coward! You selfish coward! I don’t care that you’ve got nothing to say to me. Get up and face me!”
Her shout echoed about the world.
”Face me damn you!”
And when he didn’t stir, Leah rushed forward. Her still aching leg shot out into a kick.
“Youidiot!”
His upper body did not flinch from the force of her hit. His legs felt stiff against her toes. No sound, not even a whimper, came.
“IDIOT!”
She aimed a fist at his back. Then another. And another.
“IDIOT!”
Hollow thud after hollow thud bounced off. He didn’t fight back. Her knuckles stung.
“IDIOT!”
Her nails dug into the scruff of his neck. Her arms trembled as she flipped him over. A hand grasped at the fabric of his tunic. The other, already bruising, lifted high. Her arm swung back, ready to strike—
There came a clang as the helmet rolled out of Loki’s arms.
Leah’s hands pulled back. Loki’s body sunk from her grasp. Patches of dried blood were visible on his gloves, sleeves, the collar and front of his tunic. His gaze was fixed up at the sky. Eyes bug like and clouded over with a swirling mist. There was blood smeared all over his mouth and cheeks, some of it still fresh, gurgling, and foul smelling. His skin hinged on a bluish shade and was cold to the touch.
“You—“
Her hands shot towards his chest. They tensed as she felt a lack of warmth underneath.
“Dummy,” she said. “What did you get yourself into this time?”
She gripped the front of his tunic again. Behind them, the shape of a small altar materialized. The ground was covered in blood and feathers, some clung to the soles of her shoes. She pulled him in with a violent shake.
“Was it worth it?” She screamed. “Whatever this was, was it enough to leave me behind? To make a mockery out of me?”
Loki’s limp body rattled back and forth.
“I could have done something even if it amounted to nothing! I would have tried even if you’d rather that I hate you than help you! But you had to be stubborn. You had to play at being a hero! You BASTARD! You make me want to start HATING you again!”
Loki’s body crumpled back down. Leah squeezed the front of his tunic. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
“You—“
Her hands let go. She slumped over him. Her forehead pressed against his chest. She sobbed.
“You were my friend! You were a terrible friend but you were the only living being I used to trust in this world. And now, you’re—“
“Death is just another step of existence. What he is headed to is far worse.”
Leah raised her head. She glanced around to find the source of the mysterious, yet familiar sounding voice.
“Who are you?” Though she tried to sound hostile, her voice shook.
“I-“ The voice’s croon sent a chill down her spine. “Am what was in the beginning, what lay in wait in the middle, and who rises at the end.”
Several of the feathers that were on the ground rose up on a new gust of wind. They circled about her head before blowing away.
“You are the bird,” Leah deduced. “You were the Loki that once was from the previous life.”
“Aye. Clever girl,” came the voice.
“And you, you planned this the entire time! You, you led Loki to his death!” Leah’s voice rose in anger.
The voice laughed; a curt, mocking sound.
“Planned this? What kind of a villain you take me for? I am no mastermind; I see opportunities and I take them. And he was bound to die due to misfortunate events, and I couldn’t stay content as a bird forever. Two Lokis cannot coexist. We both knew this. In a way, killing him was a mercy.”
Leah spun about.
“Mercy?” She spat.
“Even if the boy wasn’t doomed, do you really think he would have thrived moving forward?”
Leah paused. She made a move to speak but the voice cut her off.
“You said best yourself just now: he played at being a hero.”
“I didn’t say he was a hero. He’s not a hero. He was a boy who believed he could change,” Leah shot back.
“But do you think a Loki could keep his changes? Or would Asgard force him back into the role he was always meant for?”
Leah glanced down at Loki then up at the sky.
“You claim that to be your reason when you’re the one who stole all the chances Loki had and all the decisions he would have made if he were alive? He,” Leah hissed through her teeth. “Was an idiot. And he stupidly decided that breaking up our friendship was a mercy rather than having me mourn him. But in those last moments he cried and refused to face me as I was spirited away. He showed his guilt but you?”
Rage flashed in Leah’s eyes.
“Every word that you spew out gloats about your victory. And you mock him, and you mock me as your spirit waits to settle into the sack of meat you tolerated for so long. You never saw him as a Loki of his own. And for that you’re a MONSTER!
The wind blew. Leah shuddered.
“I do care about him,” came the voice.
“You lie. Just like he did,” Leah pointed out.
She turned back towards Loki’s body. She lowered the bottom of her sleeve towards his cheek.
“There’s nothing of him left inside,” the voice said.
Leah ignored it. She moved her sleeve over his face, dabbing at the blood that remained.
“This isn’t forgiveness and this isn’t for you,” Leah flatly said. “Loki died, and I in my mercy can at least make his body presentable.
After wiping away the blood, Leah pried Loki’s mouth and eyes closed. She moved his legs together and folded his arms towards his chest. Plucked out the feathers in his tunic and straightened out the creases in the fabric to the best of her ability. Once she was done, the voice came again.
“It is time to go back to where we should come from.”
Hela’s spell coiled around Leah again. Her body began to flicker. She reached out to touch Loki’s clasped hands.
“Goodbye Loki. You eternal fool.”
She was lifted into the sky as her fingers brushed against the back of her hand. As the spell began to vanish her bit by bit into the Ancient Past, Leah glanced down to see that Loki’s eyes had opened and there was no trace of the cloudiness from before. Instead, they were green, like they had been in life, but now were a shade too dark.