All Hail The King // Loki - Book 2 ✓

Chapter 30

THE DUST WHIPS around Anna's face, dirt mixing with blood and tears, while small stones begin to pelt her bare skin. Thor is sitting back on his heels in shock as he silently mourns his brother, but he frowns into the increasingly foul weather and stands. Overwhelmed with emotion, he moves over to Jane as if in a haze. Barely able to function, he forces each limb to continue forward until he wraps his arm around Jane's waist and lifts her to stand with him. Together, they walk back to Anna where she is still huddled over Loki's body.

Her hands are still wrapped around his, brown hair tumbling over her face in the wind, and her lips are moving with incomprehensible words. Over and over, she repeats to herself that he can't be gone, he can't be gone, he can't be gone. Numb to the outside world, Anna cries until she cannot cry any longer. Her throat is raw and her knees ache from her position on the cold, rocky ground of the barren planet, but she is rooted to the spot next to Loki's body. Every fiber of her being is clinging to the earth, driving deep into the ground as she wishes that she could do something - anything - to bring him back.

"We..." Thor clears his throat. "We must go."

Blue eyes flash up at Thor, startlingly clear and bright as if magnified by the pain and tears. Red-rimmed and swollen, Anna's eyes look at Thor questioningly as he takes in the sight of the woman who loved his brother. How she came to open her heart to him, Thor may never understand, but he is grateful to her nonetheless. He would rather have had Loki found love than to have lived without it for so long, seething with resentment and closing himself off from everyone. At least he had this small, beautiful woman to love and to be loved by, regardless of how long they had together.

"How are we going to move his body?" Anna asks Thor, her voice rough and cracking.

Thor frowns, looking down at Jane, "We...we cannot. We must leave him here."

"No," she replies firmly, still clutching Loki's ever-cold fingers. "No, I won't leave him. I can't leave him here."

"Anna, the storm is growing worse," Thor urges. "We need to find a way back. We need to stop Malekith, or all will be lost."

Fresh tears spring to Anna's eyes, and her voice is hoarse as she speaks, "All is already lost, Thor. Malekith has the Aether. Your plan failed, and Loki is...."

Her voice breaks as she fails to say the word. Anna doesn't want to admit it to herself, let alone to others, that Loki is gone. She just found him, only to be ripped apart not once but twice. It doesn't seem fair, it isn't fair, she reminds herself. During her time in New York, she came to realize that Loki is - was - the love of her life. Never before had she experienced anything remotely like what she felt for him, and she's certain she will never find it again. Beyond that, she has no interest in trying.

No, Loki was it. Loki is it. Without him, she can feel herself beginning to fall apart from the inside out.

"We can't stay here," Jane whispers to Thor, her words drowned out by the noise of the brewing storm.

He nods, releasing his grip on her waist, and steps forward to grab Anna. One arm wraps securely around her waist, lifting her from the ground, while the other detaches her grip on Loki's hands. She flies into a rage instantly, struggling against Thor as she cries. Unwilling to let go of Loki, she elbows Thor in the ribs only to wince when her bone connects with solid muscle. She cannot fight him. Not when she is completely and utterly drained.

"We can't leave him," she repeats, over and over again. "Thor, please. Let me stay with him. Let me go!"

He carries her for a while, using his other hand to guide Jane by the elbow through the dust storm, while she continues to struggle against him. Her strength depleted, Anna can do little more than kick at Thor while she tries to look over his shoulder at the spot where Loki's body rests. The storm makes it harder and harder to see him, and until finally she loses sight of him. In a moment of panic, she drives her head backward so it connects with Thor's nose and drops to the ground in a heap.

Scrambling to her feet, she turns to rush back in the direction where they left Loki's body only to realize that she isn't certain which direction it is. The swirling clouds of dust make it impossible to see more than three feet in front of her, and she can't find him in the growing darkness. Panic rises in her throat as she whirls around, searching the ground in every direction, until red flashes before her eyes and Thor grabs her forearm.

"Anna, stop this! Stop!" he shouts, pulling her toward him and shaking her roughly. "Loki is gone. We must go. We must stop Malekith. It's what he would've wanted."

"WHY?!" Anna cries, "Why does it matter?"

Thor growls, stepping closer to her while Jane clings to his other arm, "Because he died for this. For you. I will not let his death be in vain."

She stares blankly at him for a moment, anguish etched over every feature, until the despair slips into something else. Determination. Thor's right, Anna realizes. It breaks her heart anew to leave Loki, but he died trying to stop Malekith. He died to protect her, to protect all of them. Somehow, a sense of peace dawns over her. It's as if she's been given a piece of Loki to cling to, a remnant of him to hold closely to her heart, and the fuel to push her forward.

The chance to finish what he started. The chance to kill Malekith. The chance for revenge.

Now playing: "The Storm, It's Coming" by Glen Hansard.

*****
AUTHOR'S NOTE

Are you still alive?

x