Broker
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Chapter 219
🕑 Added 2025-01-06 17:00:13 +0000 UTCUm…
Sonya cleared her throat while Pandora stared up at her, slack jawed and her brows raised in disbelief. The woman didn’t move an inch to take her hand, she didn’t even look at it.. Pandora’s eyes were fixed solely on Sonya’s face with an expression that made her wonder if she’d grown horns or something. I… don’t have a power that does that, right? Oh man, am I losing track? Do my powers even work properly in this place? Her thoughts flitted about wildly, grasping about as she tried to distract herself from the growing surge of embarrassment. Her eyes narrowed a little in thought, I feel like I’ve tried to use my powers before but- wait- focus Sonya.
Pandora’s expression had gone deadpan. Sonya let out a nervous laugh. Usually this bit works.
“Y-you said it yourself, I can’t lie, right?” she stammered.
Pandora tilted her head slowly to the right, “You’re my friend?” she asked and rose to her feet on her own, leaning forward and getting nose to nose with Sonya, “I don’t know what kind of trick of the mind you’ve played on yourself to let you say such a thing, but we are not friends, thief.”
Sonya opened her mouth to protest, closed it, frowned as her throat tightened.
Pandora smirked, “Aha. You can’t protest, can you?”
Sonya scowled, How the heck did this little shit turn into the sweet woman I know? She crossed her arms, “I didn’t steal that ability,” she said flatly, “It was given to me.”
“Given? By who?”
Sonya looked away, her face warming, “I can’t say.”
Pandora snorted, “Half truths,” she said and brushed past Sonya, “I don’t know what Loki’s angle was, bringing you to meet me before throwing me at Titania’s feet, but I have no intention of playing along.”
Sonya sought patience. She needed to talk to her, hear her side of everything. Every bit of information she got was something she could use against Titania. “Pandora, please hear me out. I think we can help one another, just-”
“Just what?”
The velvet voice sent a cold chill up her spine, crawling across her skin like a spider as her entire body went rigid. A response so instantaneous it felt like it had been programmed into her. She stumbled over her words, her chest tightening as a cold sweat beaded on her brow. Just a few feet away, Pandora spun and whipped her head about, her expression one of unfettered hostility, “Titania!”
In a blink of an eye they were no longer in that clearing. Sonya stood numbly as the rowdy chorus of Titania’s court hammered her ears. Her vision swam, traumas she couldn’t remember scratching at her brain like a million tiny insects. She barely registered that Loki and Oorochi were on either side of her, also looking around in confusion. The only person who seemed any sort of unfazed was the defiant Pandora, standing on the audience dias with her head held high.
Sonya’s heart hammered in her chest. She forced her gaze up, following the steps to a pair of pale, delicate feet and the woman attached to them. Titania looked down at her with a sneer, “You got willful all of a sudden, little light.”
Sonya looked away, nausea rising in her throat.
“Titania!” Pandora bellowed again, taking a step forward, “If you have any sense left in you, send me back to Asgard, immediately!”
The Queen of the Fae gave the young woman a flat look before turning her attention to Loki. She narrowed her eyes, “You acted on your own.”
“I do that,” Loki said with a shrug, “Comes with the territory of working with me. You knew that, though.”
Titania leaned back in her throne and let out a sigh, “Were you at least discrete? The last thing I want is Olympus throwing a tantrum on my doorstep.”
Sonya glanced between the two of them as Loki smiled at her, “If I wanted them to figure it out, they’d figure it out,” the trickster said, “If I wanted them to chase a ghost, they’d do that instead.”
Sonya squinted at Loki before looking up at Titania who seemed to relax. Wait a minute. She turned her attention towards Pandora who was shaking with anger. Her face was beet red with embarrassment. The arbiter took another step forward, “TITANIA! I will not be ignored here! If you think Olympus is your only problem you are sorely mistaken! I have half a mind to- URK!” She didn’t get to finish her tirade. Pale white vines erupted from the ground at her feet and wrapped around her throat, pulling her to the ground so fast her forehead clacked against the flagstone.
Out of the corner of Sonya’s eye, Loki tensed.
It was a small gesture. A tiny, miniscule, fragment of a movement. Their throat tightening just enough for a vein to show before relaxing. There it is again. What am I picking up on?
Titania didn’t seem to notice as she scowled down at Pandora, “The adults were talking, child,” the fae queen hissed, “Little upstarts like you tire me. Do you think your blood entitles you to anything? I had heard you were more demure than this but it would seem that spending time with the barbarians in Asgard has turned you into a brute like Thor. You’re more trouble than you’re worth,” she said, “And since they don’t know you are here…” she trailed off and leaned forward, resting her hands on the arms of her throne.
The next moment, Pandora was choking. The sound of her gasps accompanied by the creaking of wood. Sonya’s eyes widened. Wait, what? Just like that? That can’t be how things go, she thought as Pandora struggled on the ground, kicking and twisting, trying to pull herself free of the vines that were now rising up to wrap around her arms and legs. She wheezed, opening her mouth to speak but the vine around her throat only tightened. Wait, wait, wait, no, this isn’t right.
She shot a look towards Loki. The trickster stood still, hands on their hips. Their fingers tensed, tightening at their belt even while their face remained passive and calm. Pandora let out a gasp for air as Titania leaned forward, nearly rising to her feet. The Queen was smiling, savoring the sight. She looked from Pandora to Loki to Titania again, a cold lump forming in her guts. The sound of the arbiter’s gasps had turned to squeaks and pained, helpless sobs. The last gasps before her end. Fuck this. I can’t watch this.
“Mis- Titania!” she forced out, stepping forward and planting her feet on the ground between the queen and her prey. “That’s enough. Please.”
The choking sounds stopped behind her as she held Titania’s gaze. The Queen scowled, “Yes, I have definitely been too lax with you, little light.”
Torture is lax? You fucking psycho. Sonya thought, working up ner nerve to speak. “Killing her gets you nothing except temporary satisfaction. A bargaining chip is far more useful, right?” she said quickly only feel something strike her across the face for her trouble. She planted her feet, not letting herself fall as another pale white vine struck her. Then another and another. She clenched her teeth, looking Titania in the eyes. You’re keeping me alive, aren’t you? You can’t kill me. I don’t know why, but you need me alive. I may not remember most of it, but I’ve spent two hundred years dealing with you. Come on!
Titania hesitated, then scowled, and then Sonya heard an agonized gasp behind her as the vines retreated into the ground. Sonya licked her lip, tasting the blood dripping from her nose. She didn’t blink. Titania didn’t either. Both holding one another’s gaze while Titania leaned back in her seat with a frown. “Fine,” Titania hissed, “If you like this outsider so much, you can join her in a cell until I figure out how to use her.”
Sonya let out a breath of relief and broke eye contact. That was a mistake.
“Ah, I have an idea,” Titania said suddenly, “While you’re at it. I’ll put you in charge of wringing the attitude out of her. How does that sound?”
Sonya’s eyes went wide. She looked up sharply and saw a cruel smile spreading on the queen’s face. There was a glint there in her eyes. Not just the savage glee of the fae queen, but the cruel gaze of that other personality, that other Titania, the one that took no small amount of joy in making Sonya suffer. No. Sonya felt her head begin to swim. Her vision grew blurry. Her mind wandered, thoughts becoming jumbled. No- no! Not again. I don’t want to lose more time. Don’t make me-
–
Sonya’s thoughts returned to her while she stood in a cold, dark room. The scent of blood, sweat, and other horrible things stinging her nose. Her vision swimming back into clarity. She staggered, clutching at the side of her head as pain shot through her brain like a lightning bolt. Her fingers tightened around something in her other hand and she looked down, bleary eyed, and gasped in horror at the sight of a multi-tailed whip ending in cruel glass-like barbs. She dropped it to the ground, stumbling backwards and pressing her back against the wall. Breaths came in rapid, ragged gasps.
“Looks like you’re back,” a weak voice said from the other side of the darkened room.
Sonya jolted and turned towards the source, her pulse still pounding in her ears. She spotted a solitary figure sitting against the far wall in nothing but a ragged brown dress. Two sunken eyes met hers, messy blonde hair matted against her face and neck. Pandora looked terrible. Her body was covered in small lacerations that looked as if they were already beginning to close. Her cheeks were hollow, her limbs thin and weary, but it was her eyes that arrested Sonya.
As if sensing her thoughts, Pandora closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall with a heavy sigh. Sonya’s mind was a mess, her thoughts jumbled and flickering. What was worse was the panic, regret, and disgust over what she clearly had been up to during her latest black-out in this terrible place. Her own personal hell.
She looked down at her feet. “...how long?”
“Seventy-two days,” Pandora said quietly.
Sonya winced, “I see.”
“Well,” Pandora rasped, sitting up a bit more. She chuckled and Sonya looked up at the woman in confusion. She was smiling to herself as if remembering a joke. She moved to get to her feet but fell back, grumbling under her breath and looking accusingly at her legs. “I suppose I owe you an apology.”
“WHAT?!” Sonya blasted, “Are you insane? In what world could you possibly owe me an apology?” she demanded, reaching up to run her fingers through her hair. The pressure behind her eyes built again, tears that wouldn’t come, she paced back and forth in the dingy cell. “I tortured you! Look at you! You’re a mess!”
“A little rude,” Pandora muttered with a scoff and crossed her bloodstained arms.
Sonya stared at her, wide eyed. She reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose, “You’re nuts. I’m nuts. I’m -” she shuddered involuntarily, the words dying in her throat. I’m stuck in a little world based on a magical past in my own head held up by the queen of the fairies! I’m crazy. I’m locked up somewhere. This is my final fever dream. Everything after coming back- no- the flash? She trembled and crouched down to the ground, gripping her head, Was that even real? Was-
“You didn’t lie to me,” Pandora said, shaking her from her spiral.
Sonya looked up at her, “...what?”
“You’re no ally of Titania, for her to put you under such a spell for months at a time,” Pandora said flatly, leveling Sonya with a stare. She shrugged and rubbed her neck like it ached a little instead of whatever agony she was clearly in, “Pain is fleeting,” she said dismissively, “I heal quickly, see?” she held up her arm and showed that the cuts were already reduced to bruises. “The kind of mental anguish you’re going through, that stays with you.”
Sonya’s lips trembled, and then she whipped her head away, planted her hands on the ground, and heaved pathetically. It lasted a while, the pain all the worse from clearly having nothing in her stomach. A hand rubbed her back and she tried to pull away. “...stop,” she grunted, her words garbled by nausea.
“Stop torturing yourself and I will,” Pandora said testily.
Sonya glared at her, “First off, I tortured you, and second I’m-” she choked, gasping as her throat tightened so firmly she thought she’d pass out.
“Uhuh,” Pandora chuckled and continued rubbing her back, “Those kinds of lies count too.”
The heaving finally stopped and Sonya just knelt there, pressing her head against the hard ground. She shivered and pulled her shoulder away from Pandora. She felt her shoulders sag a little, her body felt so weak, she was so tired. Maybe this really was hell. “I deserve this,” she muttered, “I’ve done terrible things, my actions were the cause of even worse,” she thought of Tokyo, of her antagonism with Liberty, would it have happened if she hadn’t goaded her? Would I have goaded her anyway? Maybe it’s just my nature.
Somewhere far above, the sky rumbled again. She looked up towards the ceiling, a hollow feeling in her chest. “Pandora?”
“Yes?”
“What lines would you cross to save the world?” she asked.
“That’s a silly question,” Pandora scoffed.
Sonya looked at her, she was already right as rain, only dirt and bloodstains covered her now. Even the bruises were gone. She was sitting cross-legged just a foot away, her expression contemplative as she searched Sonya’s tired face. Sonya forced herself to sit up from where she knelt, hands in her lap, head hung. She waited for Pandora to answer as the storm grew louder overhead.
The ancient arbiter didn’t pay it any mind. When she spoke, her words were from a conviction set so deep in her soul there was as much chance of dislodging it as there was moving the sun and stars. “Any and all of them,” she said, “Even if history never forgives me, as long as the world keeps turning, I’ll do it. I’ve already made up my mind.”
A chill ran down Sonya’s spine as the door opened behind her, light pouring into the room. She turned and looked up to see Loki standing there in their male form. Their posture was relaxed, as usual, but the look in their eyes was flinty. They let out a sigh that almost sounded relieved when they saw the two women sitting there on the dirty floor.
“She’s letting you out,” Loki said, “Come with me.”
Comments
Wintermelody
Thanks for the Chapter
Gemiae
Thanks for the chapter!
