Shadow Butcher (LokixAvengersxOC)

The Realm of the Souls

An Illusion is cast by me with the reality stone's power. The training hall's facade glows red and it turns pitch dark as if someone would stare into nothing but the void. Yet, the smell of sweat from whoever trained beforehand betrays the illusion.

Loki squeezes my shoulder. "Shadow, is this your doing?", he questions worried already pulling his seidr to help me stop if needed.

"Yes, I want to show you something."

Shrugging his hand over my shoulder, I concentrate on showing them where I come from. It is time to open up to a few people I feel close to. Once everything is black, I add some illumination. I imitate it as if it was real. The illusion will be displayed on how the Afterworld gets its wonderful touch. The light comes from each soul that roams around this realm. Adding one after one, the room gets brighter but also not.

"Lady Reaper, what is this?" Thor asks hesitantly. He summoned Mjölnir back to his hand, his grip tightened around his hammer.

"Home," they could hear a faint smile in my voice. "This is the Afterworld."

Loki sucks in a sharp breath through his nose. "Nothing compared to Asgard."

Thor chuckles and shakes his head. "Not at all, brother. Not at all."

The more souls I add that illuminate the Afterworld, the more relaxed they get. As soon as the room, or rather the realm, gets enough light, they can see a few details.

Like the sand underneath their boots. Or faint pyramids in the far background by the dune landscape. A few of the souls are flying in the night sky, looking like stars. But other souls hover over the dune, illuminating the path.

The view is absolutely breathtaking if you take in the scene and not only the darkness consuming one another. For sure, it is quite the opposite of Asgard but at least every soul gets treated equally in my realm. It is peace.

By taking in the sight, I kind of get homesick. And it saddens me that I probably am going to see it much lesser than my life before HYDRA. It also won't be the same feeling to visit home. It is something I always try to avoid.

As I try to create something very important that belongs to the afterworld, my hand shakes. Perhaps also because of missing my old home.

"Aren't you well, Lady Reaper?", Thor questions, his brows furrowed.

He tries to lay his hand on me but Loki slaps it away with a growl. And instead of Thor, he lays his hand over my trembling one. Thor watches us in confusion but lets it slide. He steps away to give us some space. Loki nods assuringly at me with a soft smile. I breathe shakingly but it calms my nerves when I feel Loki using his powers to help me control it. The buzz soothes the pain in my boiling blood.

A bit further away, I focus on the empty spot. My red powers mix with his green gems and form a human body with a feral head. Anubis.

I step back, unsteady, once I did it, Loki holds me secure in his arms. With my eyes shut, I sharply breathe to keep my cool. To keep it all together.

"That's my father or creator, however, you want to call it."

"Anubis, I assume?", Thor questions and Loki rolls his eyes as if it's not already that obvious.

I nod my head and rub my forearm up and down to comfort myself. "He's the ruler of the Afterworld. He gives the dead ones a new home. He was the one who lead the humans into this realm until the population grew bigger and he couldn't do both anymore. That's the reason he created me but now he's bound to that realm."

I pause for a moment and see how Thor tries to follow while Loki, clearly the smarter one of both -and I rather had him being a fool like Thor at the moment- seems to be already one step ahead.

"But if he is bound to the afterworld, how can he get to the upper surface and banish you for what you did?", Loki asks with squinted eyes, looking skeptical.

My hands fiddle around the hem of my shirt. "He's always somehow connected with my soul and he noticed something was off when I joined HYDRA. Even if it took almost 50 years to notice. A lot of dark energy is what he had to use to meet me and curse me."

"Your father cursed you?", Thor asks in disbelief. His mouth was agape and his forehead wrinkled.

My breath hitches while my heart races. I don't want to tell another person about my failure. Not after such a short amount of revealing my true identity to Steve, Sam, Natasha, and Loki.

"If she allows me, I will tell you another time, Thor," Loki stops and lifts my chin with his finger. I was zoning out again and his eyes brought me back to reality. "Unless you want to tell it yourself."

I can only manage to shrug, although I don't want him to tell anybody about my past or from myself. As soon as got back to reality from zoning out, I let the Illusion fade back, the surroundings turn to their original shape. The power has drained me a bit and I slump back to the bench with a huff.

"I am the only one who can travel back and forth from that realm," I say a bit breathless. Which concerns me. The Aether does more damage to my body than I thought. "It means the infinity stone is harbored well in the hands of my father."

"Great, then we have a place to hide the Stone," Thor says cheerfully and pats us both on the back. But as soon as Thor sees Loki's concern and my worry, he doesn't seem so enthusiastic anymore. "What is it?"

Loki shifts on his feet. "Everything comes with a price, doesn't it, Darling?"

Sparks spike through my skin when he calls me like that again. I hide my blush behind my hair and clear my throat to turn my attention back to our important conversation. "Yeah, it does. And I think I know how to make my amends with my father."

Thor grows impatient and steps closer. "What is it you are not telling me yet?"

Loki's body tenses. "Are you certain you want to do this?", he asks me, ignoring his brother completely. I nod in reply. "And how do you inquire to bring a soul into your home realm, princess?"

Thor stands still and pushes his brother away to stand in front of me. "Are you planning on killing somebody, Lady Reaper?" His brows are furrowed but jaw clenched, yet his eyes search my eyes for any kind of mercy.

My air gets stuck in my throat and I shake my head. "The only thing I need to know is if I killed somebody the other day."

Thor grabs me by the shoulder. "You killed somebody?" Without a doubt, he was angry at me but I assume he caught a glimpse of remorse in my eyes, his grip and face softens.

"Brother, it was not entirely her." I glance past Thor's broad arm to have a look at Loki. His hands are clasped behind his back and stares at me with sorrow written all over his face. Thor inquires for elaboration while letting me go. "She killed an agent while being mind-controlled by HYDRA. But that is another story to tell. And if you ask me, Shadow, I truly believe we do need to tell him everything too."

I shut my eyes as he mentions who I killed. My heart pounds against my chest and I feel sorry about the innocent soul being trapped in that corpse. But I still nod my head for agreeing with what Loki referred to lastly.

And so, I sit aside, hearing my story being told by the God of Mischief and Lies as the God of Thunder listens carefully. That is until he understands what we were planning to do to accomplish this task. Or rather, how I am going to be able to do so.

"If we find that body, I can lead the soul to the Afterworld."