ONLY FOR YOU | Loki

CHAPTER 20: BATTLE IN THE WHITE SAND, PART 1

(A/N: I'm switching the rating to Mature cause this story's gonna get,,, pretty violent lol)

THERE'S A MOMENT OF SILENCE AS FOX AND THE SOULMATES STARE EACH OTHER DOWN. Then, all at once, Fox pulls out a gun and Olivia yanks Loki to the side, the two of them narrowly avoiding a bullet that would've pierced his skull.

"If she gets to keep using that, we're fucked," Olivia rushes out as they land in the sand. "We have to get up close, or else we don't have a chance." She rolls to the side and onto her feet, keeping her body moving as Loki leaps forward into motion.

Fox takes aim again, but Olivia hops unexpectedly to the side, and she falters for just the briefest of moments.

The blonde aims at Loki, but Olivia grasps her wrist just as she squeezes the trigger, sending her bullet in the wrong direction. Fox blocks a hit from Olivia's bat, catching it and using the momentum to fling the girl into the sand.

Before she can end his soulmate, Loki swings his daggers down at Fox. She whirls out of the way, pulling a kitchen knife out of her utility belt and swinging it backhanded at him.

He blocks her swing, and the force of his hit knocks her gun to the ground with a clatter. Olivia rolls to reach for it, but Fox stomps forcefully onto her hand as she shoves Loki back. Olivia hisses with pain, snatching her hand back.

"Don't let her grab it!" she exclaims, stumbling to her feet as Fox scrambles for her gun.

"I got that," Loki hisses distractedly as he grasps onto her hood and yanks her back, making his own grab for it.

Fox won't stand for it, though; she brings her kitchen knife down at him, forcing him to turn and block her swing with one of his daggers. Olivia reaches again for the gun, but Fox drops to kick it away and slashes at Loki's calves. He jumps back to avoid being hit, and Olivia swings her bat at Fox.

Fox ducks, scoops up a handful of sand, and flings it into the two soulmates' eyes before they can protect themselves. While they struggle for sight, she dashes desperately for her gun.

Olivia regains her sight first; she drops her bat entirely and leaps onto Fox, dragging her down into the sound. They wrestle for a moment, but Olivia manages to pin her to the ground.

"Loki!" she calls out, struggling to keep the writhing Fox on the ground. She fails to notice the woman's reaching hand, which finally grasps onto the object of her desire.

Fox moves to press the barrel quickly to Olivia's temple, but only makes it halfway before something sharp knocks the gun out of her hand, nicking her fingers in the process. Olivia's head turns to see one of Loki's daggers lying there.

Fox takes the distraction to flip them, wrapping her hands around Olivia's throat. Olivia reaches for the dagger, but finds it just out of reach. Her eyes shift to find Loki about to bring his other dagger down on Fox's back.

Predicting that, the woman rolls out of the way just in time, snatching up the gun and scrambling to a better distance. However, she finds Olivia's chain wrapped around her. She yanks her back, pulling her into a headlock.

"Now!" Olivia exclaims, as Fox's gun drops out of her hands in favor of desperately trying to pry the other woman's arms away.

Loki's dagger sinks into her chest, effectively silencing her.

Olivia drops Fox's body, which falls face-first into the sand with a 'thunk'. A pause passes, and then the crowds start to scream. She reaches for the gun, habitually checking the barrel.

Two shots left.

"I hate close-quarters," Olivia huffs, mostly to herself, her hands still trembling with adrenaline. "Give me a shootout any day, over this."

"Who— was that?" Loki huffs a little louder than he'd like, struggling to gulp down as much air as physically possible. Still, he'd prefer to be heard over the screaming masses. He looks over at Olivia as best his hair will allow; he's a little tired to flip it over his shoulder at the moment, though.

He doesn't miss the way she tenses, or the clench of her fists as she scoops her bat up once more.

"Why don't—," she starts, only to be cut off by the bang of Odin's staff against the stadium floor, echoing through the arena and effectively silencing everyone.

"Only one may leave," he announces, inducing a murmuring hush among the spectators. Loki and Olivia glance at each other, and she steps forward with a defiant glare.

"What's to stop us from killing you and leaving anyways?" she challenges. Loki rolls his shoulders slightly in well-concealed discomfort.

Not well-concealed enough, though.

Odin's face twists into a small, amused smile. Even as one of his guards starts forward— presumably to annihilate them— he holds up a hand. He raises his eyebrows just slightly, looking at Olivia with the same disapproving amusement one grants to a petulant child.

"You could try," he invites coldly, not even trying to take her seriously.

For an instant, Loki loses his grasp on her personality. He thinks she'll take him up on that; charge headfirst into a fight with the enemy, not sparing a moment for thought. It's what Steve Rogers would do, he thinks.

Instead, her eyes dart to the arena's exits, all shut with no obvious mechanism to open them. They shift to Odin's guards, which are numerous and armed with golden spears. Slowly, she nods.

"It's the only way out," she recognizes. She turns to Loki, who knew from the moment she broke her gaze that he must've been a victim of temporary insanity to think she wouldn't consider their position as critically as him.

Even if he would've done the same thing if she hadn't acted first, he can't help the flash of betrayal that comes as she adjusts her grip on her bat. He readies his daggers.