BATTLE ON THE WHITE SAND, PART 2 (!)
OLIVIA SHOOTS FORWARD. When she launches at him, the crowds go up in screams again, their noise loud enough to be almost mind-numbing. Even so, Loki is ready to block her swing.
“So, we make it convincing, and when they open the gates we run?” she grinds out as her bat pushes forcefully against his daggers, sure to keep her voice low. The surprise has him stumbling back a step, and she pursues relentlessly, producing Fox’s kitchen knife to swipe at his feet.
Still, he can tell she’s not really trying as hard as she can; she drags the follow-through on for just a half-second too long, and her stance is a little too narrow. If it weren’t for the fact that he literally just fought by her side, he’d have chalked it up to inexperience.
A mischievous grin spreads across his face.
“I won’t be losing,” he warns her, striking a blow that sends her back in a spray of sand. She laughs, a wordless challenge that makes his grin widen. Oh, he’s starting to think this is fun.
The dance between the two of them kicks up plume after plume of sand, one of his twin daggers ending up discarded alongside her bat. The two keep fighting heedlessly, even with only a dagger and a kitchen knife between them.
Finally, one of Olivia’s swings comes angled wrong, and he catches her knife hand, twisting it so the object comes clattering into the sound. She immediately goes for his throat with her free hand, apparently ready to throat-punch him.
His dagger vanishes from his hand in time for him to catch her wrist halfway between her throat and his. He materializes his dagger back into his hand, holding it with the blade against her throat.
His face molds into a smirk.
“I told you I’d win,” he taunts quietly. Instead of the defeated expression he expects, she forms a mischievous smirk of her own.
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” she chides. She flicks her wrist as best she can, and a blade’s edge nearly grazes Loki’s throat from a switchblade he didn’t realize she had. He glances between her and the weapon with slight astonishment.
She chuckles, a glimmer of pride echoing through her expression.
“What,” she teases, “you didn’t think you were the only one capable of tricks, did you?” Of course he didn’t— but this was clever! The hidden switchblade, so deceptively simple and yet easiest to conceal when the need is greatest.
He may not believe in the infallibility of soulmates, but damn if she doesn’t make him want to.
“You won’t get lucky again,” he assures her coolly. She nods very slightly, being sure not to move her head much.
“I don’t doubt it,” she agrees lowly, “but let’s end this.” Something hard slams into the weak spot just under his kneecap, and while Loki could probably remain standing, he begrudgingly lets himself go down.
The handle of Olivia’s gun hits Loki’s head hard, and he crumples into the sand, still once more.
The crowd’s cheers seem to penetrate her very brain matter.
Odin stands, and pounds his staff for the last time, gesturing to a slowly opening door. On the other side, Olivia can see a soldier cranking a wheel to raise it. Behind him is a staircase and a tunnel to someplace sunny.
“Collect your prize,” he invites her, sparing Loki little more than a slightly disappointed glance. She nods once and starts forward, not even glancing back at the unconscious Loki or the soldiers approaching to collect him.
She passes the soldier manning the crank, and for a moment it seems like she’s just going to leave.
Then without warning, she whirls around, and he falls, accompanied by a deafening ‘bang’. The crank starts to slip, but she grabs it to keep it open as Loki springs to life, elbowing one of the guards who has his arms in the face.
Olivia stabs the fallen soldier’s spear into the wall, halting the crank at halfway down. Odin’s eyes blaze with rage as Loki breaks free, scooping up his daggers as he dashes for the exit.
“Seize them!” Odin roars, and Olivia fends off a soldier that came down the stairs.
Loki takes down a soldier, finally slipping under the jammed door. The two soulmates make a break for the outside.
“Can you throw those?” Olivia shouts, over the din of the enraged crowds above.
“Yes, why?” he shouts back. She halts, whirling around to stab her switchblade into an oncoming soldier’s shoulder.
“Rope!” she exclaims, pointing. He follows her finger to see the ropes holding up the exterior door of the arena. A wicked grin spreads across his face.
With an expert throw, the rope is severed, dropping the door onto a soldier who was trying to follow. Olivia aims her gun at their last pursuer as he approaches; with a ‘bang’ of finality, he falls.
Finally blessed with silence, she drops the empty gun, dropping to the dirt road with a sigh of relief.
“You pretended you were going to leave me,” Loki reminds her through his puffs. “It was good; you nearly had me fooled.” She offers him a tired grin.
“What,” she laughs breathlessly, “like I’d leave you after all the trouble I’ve been taking to save your ass? What a waste of effort.”
“You are bold,” he chuckles, amused by how blasé she can be about all this.
“Not bold,” she corrects, a grin on her face. “Just reckless. Common mistake.” He shakes his head, an amused grin on his face.
“You truly are a terrible liar,” he muses, chuckling. Like he would believe that after everything they just did together. She laughs too.
“You are the literal only person who has ever said that,” she informs him, smiling lightly.
“Then everyone else must be blind,” he shoots back easily. “I’m sure your deception works well enough on mortals, but I am a god.” Her smile falls a little, but she picks it back up with a twinge of annoyance.
“Well, only one more day left,” she reminds him. “Bet you’re excited. You’ll never have to see another mortal again, I bet.”
It takes him off guard how absolutely not excited he is. He doesn’t actually want to return to his life; she’s damn near the only polite company he’s had in days.
“Yes, well,” he starts, not sure how to play it off with his thoughts half-consumed. “Who was that woman in there? Fox, wasn’t it? You seemed familiar.” Olivia’s expression now drops into a frown.
“I am,” she confirms. “Very familiar, actually. She would’ve killed us both without a moment’s hesitation.” Loki absorbs that, his curiosity starting to burn.
“Why?” he inquires. Olivia shrugs idly, staring at the still-looming arena with a hard gaze.
“Because it’s her job,” is all she says. The world starts to slip away, so she turns back to Loki. “See you tomorrow.”
He doesn’t even have time to wave.
She wakes up in bed.