my mortal 🐍✨🖤

chapter 7

Loki strutted off into the dark early morning, his leg hitting the tesseract in his pocket with every step. He finally had it. He had the power to overthrow the entire planet of Midgard right then and there. Yet he had feelings of.. doubt? Self awareness and analysis of decisions are rare internal conflicts for Loki. He was quite impulsive and sneaky without much thought of future consequences or what was at stake. Because he had nothing to lose. His father always favored Thor and he was always just second choice. But now, he did have something important to him that he couldn't risk losing. Well, someone.
He trudged under the desert sky until he reached a noticeable road. He saw the bench that they had sat on together that night he fell over the gate. It was glimmering in the moon light and he looked on with sorrow, confliction, nostalgia and wistfulness. He decided to take a seat.
He closed his sad green eyes in desperation for an answer. He sat in silence contemplating all his options. He continuously reminded himself of the ultimate goal. 'Get yourself together, Loki.' He thought. 'You deserve this accomplishment. All your life back in Asgard, they made you feel like you weren't enough to achieve greatness. True happiness and joy are at your fingertips. Do you really wanna give that up?' He thought through it over and over again. He pulled the glowing cube out of his pocket.
"No. Of course not."

The next day, Sophie got ready to spend a day with her previously-mentioned friend, Hana,  that early afternoon. She threw on a cute soft pink sweater and simple jean shorts. With a large vintage denim jacket to top it all, she slipped on her vans and headed down to the Norterra marketplace.
She decided she should tell Hana the entire Loki situation since she can keep secrets and be honest about whether or not this was okay. She was nervous and excited to finally spill the tea to someone. Upon arrival, she headed to the boba place they both greatly enjoyed. After greeting and buying some drinks, they sat down and started conversing. She told her all of what had happened and how she felt about it all. Hana could really sense just how emotionally attached Sophie was and couldn't help but believe herself that it was romantic and sweet.

Meanwhile, Loki returned to the Chitauri in his signature Asgardian outfit, green cape flying behind him with every step. He wore his helmet and under, bore a wide smirk as he approached the Chitauri king's dark throne.
"Loki Laufeyson. Back so soon?" He taunted.
"I know, I know. I'm quite impressive, I am well aware." He replied, tired of the underestimating. He revealed the glowing tesseract in his hand and held it out for them all to see. The grim wave of embarrassment in the Chitauris' faces gave Loki great satisfaction. He finally proved himself, even if it was to a bunch of human-sized lizards with rabies.
"Seems you finally succeeded. I will admit it, Asgardian. You surprised us all." He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
Loki grinned his innocently wicked grin.
"Well there is no time to lose. I will assemble you an army, as promised. When you're ready," he continued as a staff was presented to Loki. "use the staff to open a portal from our world to Midgard. I'll ensure you reign over all of Midgard before you can say 'trickster'."
Loki nodded in agreement, accepting the gift. He dramatically slipped the stone into the small crevice with a sharp glow.
"See you soon."

Back on Earth, Sophie and Hana roamed the shopping center making stupid jokes and girl talk, when a strange figure marched down the center. The area was packed and every passing person stopped curiously, forming a large crowd. A security guard approached Loki, thinking he was a cosplayer.
"Excuse me sir, that staff is considered a weapon and is not safe to carry arou-"
Before he could finish, he used that very staff to zap him into the large crowd. People screamed and tried to run, but he placed holograms of himself around the crowd to prevent any escape.
"Kneel before me!" He shouted as people continued their panic.
"KNEEEEEEEEL"  he shouted, clanging his staff, causing everyone to quiet down and get down on their knees before him.
"Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state?" he shouted at the terrified crowd, slowly walking around them. "It's the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power. For identity." He stopped in his tracks and looked towards his new subjects. "You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel." He said proudly, eyes firing with pride and greed. He abruptly raised his scepter as a beam of blue light shot through it towards the sky, as the crowd screamed in fear and sinister clouds blocked the sunlight. A giant dark portal unraveled above and Loki smiled with delight and excitement, until he saw her.

Sophie had turned the corner earlier to see what the ruckus was all about when she saw the security guard run past her in a rush. She had witnessed everything. The zap, the holograms, demeaning speech and the beacon of light. She was traumatized and heartbroken. She rushed out into the panic to see if it was really him. She wished and hoped and prayed that her eyes and ears had deceived her. But unfortunately, her initial fear was only proven correct as she ran closer. She recognized him, even in a major change of clothes and a large helmet covering his head. His eyes, however,  were sparkling in such a vile way, for a second she doubted it was actually him.

He laughed as he looked around, exuberant for his coming army when his eyes met hers. She was perceptibly upset and shocked, though she was a distance away. Loki felt his heart sink down into his stomach. It was obvious her sadness and disappointment was caused by him and his actions. He saw her eyes glimmer with tears. He felt his breath shorten and a lump form in his throat from fear. But why was he scared? He didn't know.
He got down from the platform and tried to approach her when loud screeches filled the air as thousands of Chitauri flew through the portal. Sophie was flown backwards onto the ground and she quickly crawled into hiding, still in earshot of Loki.
The Chitauri king himself entered through the portal. Sophie watched in horror and utter confusion.
"LOKI SON OF ODIN! Your army as promised. Now, I require the tesseract. Hand it over immediately." He said reaching out his open lizard palm. Loki hesitated internally but didn't let it show. Before, he would have no issue handing it over. He glanced where Sophie was hiding and saw her disappointed and terrified face looking on at him. He quickly turned to face the king with a sly grin.
"Of course, your greatness." He said removing the stone and handing it to him in a smooth respectfully mocking motion.  The king laughed with evil joy, admiring the illuminating cube as Loki walked off into the chaotic mess, tossing the now-useless staff at his feet.
He now had a mission to do one thing and one thing only:

Protect the love of his immortal life.