Aftermath (1).
Holding his temples, Loki tried sitting up on the bed.
However, he felt a sudden strain on the muscles in his back, as if they'd gotten torn apart and were burning.
"Ouch! What's going on." Loki complained and looked around himself while hanging back using the bedrest to support his back.
"Hey, you. You're finally awake."
Loki's eyes followed the voice and ended up on a modestly dressed nurse with black hair and clear black eyes.
"Who're you? Where am I?"
"The name's Nancy, I'm a nurse. You're in St. Mungo's. I would recommend not moving so much since you've not fully healed yet."
"Huh? I see. How long has it been since I lost consciousness?"
"A few hours. Now that you've woken up I shall call your guardians. Please wait patiently without moving so that you don't worsen your injuries."
The nurse stood up from her chair that was beside Loki's bed and walked towards the door. But just before she left she turned around and spoke to Loki in a stern voice.
"If you take a single step from the bed, I will personally make sure that you don't leave this hospital for two more days."
Loki nodded quickly in understanding and relaxed back into the bed as the nurse left.
'Who's my guardian anyway?'
Loki closed his eyes and thought back to all the things that had just happened. Several questions he'd avoided asking during the action came back to him now.
'A group of crazy people got together and attacked a camp of wizards to sacrifice a bunch of them…'
'Why did they even want to sacrifice so many people?'
'And two outer gods backed the whole thing…'
'What even was the point of it all?'
'It's not like the two gods would get any more powerful due to the sacrifice and instead, they only ended up fighting against Salazar Slytherin.'
'That being said, I hope 'He' isn't mad at the request I made of him. I mean, I didn't force him and he answered the ritual himself. Surely he won't be mad at me right?'
'And that illusion that kept anyone outside from knowing what was going on on the inside…did one of 'Them' use the Beyonder Characteristic of the Fool or the Error Pathway to do that?'
Loki's lips had dropped into a frown.
He shook his head and pushed aside those thoughts to concentrate on something more important than his current questions.
'I want to see if it worked.'
He quickly rubbed his index and thumb fingers and slipped into spirit vision.
Loki looked around for a bit as if he was searching for something and then suddenly froze.
'It worked…I wasn't expecting that to happen…and for it to last this long that means it isn't a Beyonder ability but a mystical item that I stole.'
On the edge of his vision, Loki could see a golden blob of light that had a rune inside it following him around.
He extended his hand towards it and the golden blob suddenly shot into it as if it had been waiting to be called.
Loki looked at the golden blob of light carefully, observing the runic symbols floating inside it.
'A knight's helmet?'
Loki grew slightly puzzled as he looked at the symbol. It wasn't anything he'd seen recently but then his hand froze.
'No! It can't be!'
'I thought 'He' hid them or something! So 'He' only hid their knowledge? Was it because their cards were stolen!?'
Loki's hands grew cold as he touched the golden orb, his mind debating if he should inspect the item right now to confirm his suspicions or wait until he had the opportunity to go above the grey fog to reveal it.
'This is big if it is what I think it is.'
Deciding to wait until he was alone and above the grey fog, Loki dismissed the orb and exited spirit vision.
Soon, breaking the clinical silence of the room, the door opened and Loki heard light footsteps moving towards him, prompting him to open his eyes and look at his 'guardians'.
"Oh, it's you!" Loki said with a smile.
"Of course it is me you prat!" Nicholas said with a smile, ruffling Loki's hair while Prenelle held his hand with warmth.
"I feel terrible. How are you even moving around when you were locked in such a tight battle?! I'm so jealous right now!"
"Haha~ What can we say? It's good to be an angel. Your body becomes much stronger once you do. Why don't you become one too if you're so jealous!?" Prenelle teased.
"As if I could just digest my potion after drinking one so soon! And even then I've got a whole other potion before I reach just Sequence 4! Can you believe that!?"
"Prat! You've already reached Sequence 6 in such a short time! If you complain about this, then all the other pureblood families will be out on a witch hunt to have your head!"
"Hmpf. Those dumb guys can stay jealous of my talent. Anyway, tell me, how did everything turn out?" Loki asked with a serious expression, turning the mood in the room serious.
Prenelle and Nicholas looked at each other before turning towards Loki and answering his question.
"Most of the hostages survived. Of those that survived, most were corrupted and had to be put down after they were given the chance to speak to their loved ones one last time, others who we were able to save are just unconscious because they had to be in the presence of gods. They'll wake up in a week or so.", Nicholas said calmly.
"And…? I'm sensing a 'but'? What are you guys keeping hidden?" Loki asked with raised eyebrows.
Nicholas looked at Prenelle and she continued.
"-but most of the Death Eaters are dead."
Loki became puzzled so he voiced his confusion, "Isn't that a good thing though?"
"Well, normally it would be. God knows how stupid they are." Prenelle complained by shaking her head, "But this time Nicholas and I suspected that they were under the Imperious curse, controlled by someone else and forced to do their bidding."
Loki's eyes widened in shock.
'How did I forget about that darned curse!'
"Ah! So that's why you wanted me to keep them alive. You wanted to get them out of the imperious curse's influence and interrogate them."
"Yes." Both Prenelle and Nicholas nodded. "We wanted to study their memories to find out if there was something about the goals of their leader that we could figure out."
"But you said most right. So some of them are still alive?"
Nicholas frowned at that question but he divulged the truth to Loki nonetheless, "They are, but they're better off dead."
Loki frowned and only one possibility came to his mind, "Corrupted? Lost control?"
"Yep. The unspeakable are working on a way to extract some information, but there isn't much hope since digging too deep could corrupt them too."
"sigh at least that is all. Nothing too bad happen-" Loki paused his sentence mid-way and looked at Nicholas and Prenelle. "Why are you frowning like that!? Don't tell me something else happened!"
They looked at each other once again and Nicholas explained, "Your prediction was right. The attack on the camp was only a diversion, at least we think so right now."
Loki's eyes widened.
'Yeah! I said that! How could I forget about that!'
"And their real target? Did they attack muggles or something!?" Loki asked with worry since he was afraid for Elane.
"No. They attacked Azkaban. But since you warned the ministry beforehand only half the inmates escaped." Nicholas dropped the bombshell and looking at Loki's wide open mouth he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Meh. Could've been worse."
"Damn…now I feel like something even worse is going to happen…"
"Don't worry. It won't be your fault. In fact, it was probably because of you that many lives were saved. So don't beat yourself up over it." Prenelle said with affection as she brushed Loki's hair, causing him to release a tired sigh by covering his face which allowed him to look back at them with determination.
Loki then looked up at Prenelle with narrowed eyes and asked another question.
"You worded that in a strange way…it won't be my fault? So you know what is going to happen?"
Prenelle sighed audibly and Nicolas took over to explain.
"Their aim to attack Azkaban, although to free more Death Eaters, wasn't just to get the death eaters, but they also wanted a Fidelius charm approved."
"Huh? Why wouldn't it have gotten approved? I mean I understand that the Gods might not have wanted to help the death eaters, but why do such a large thing instead of just appeasing the god in some way instead?"
Nicolas shook his head and explained quietly, "The Fidelius charm isn't a part of the Standard Gods and Goddesses…."
"An evil god?" Loki frowned since that didn't make much sense as he couldn't think of a pathway that would have such a good concealment ability which would belong to an 'Evil' God.
"No. It belongs to one of the only two Goddless pathways. The Visonary Pathway."
Loki's eyes widened.
"No way…the Headmaster!?"
Nicolas nodded.
"So the death eaters escaped and we aren't able to figure out where they are through divination?"
Nicolas nodded again, causing Loki to sigh audibly before he rubbed his face vigorously to pull himself out of the sinking feeling he was having.
"If anyone needs my help just let me know."
"No! Nothing to do for you now. In fact, it'd be more helpful if you focus on becoming stronger...we won't have to worry about you all the time then."
"Huh? Why? How's that suddenly important? I mean I know I have to get strong, but this much?"
But Nicholas and Prenelle stayed silent causing Loki to understand something. "Ah…so it's something that could corrupt me."
Prenelle's eyes widened but she did not lose composure, instead, she nodded and explained softly, "In simpler terms, as long as you become stronger, we can unite humanity to face our common enemy together."
Although Prenelle didn't mention anything about, 'Her', Loki immediately understood what she was hinting at.
Loki nodded calmly and accepted the mission he was given.
'How can I help in this situation?'
'What if I can control the money that is flowing around in Britain?'
'Would I be able to control the actions of the Death Eaters if I can redirect all their money and steal it? But that would force them to resort to more brutal means to bribe other people, right?'
'Sigh How complicated.'
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A/N : Alright, here's the first extra chapter!!! One more to go!!!! Let's goo!!!!!!
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