A/N: I spent so long trying to pick a gif for this chapter. Loki in the VIP box gives me so much serotonin and he looks so good... continue.

...

Soon after you began to walk you found a secluded alleyway which you ducked into inconspicuously. There was no time to dwell upon the events of the day, you needed to concentrate or you might lose your nerve, and you couldn't afford for that to happen.

"The fate of Asgard depends on you Y/N."

Traitor...

No, don't think about it. Think about Loki. You needed to find him; he might be in trouble. Screwing your eyes tightly shut you tuned into the connection you and Loki shared and immediately felt the strong tug which would lead you to him. He was near. You opened your eyes again to find another obviously drunken humanoid creature staggering towards you. He was on the floor before he'd even had a chance to open his mouth to make the disgusting thoughts he'd been thinking apparent to you.

Stepping over his body, you followed the tugging sensation in your chest, which eased more and more every step you took closer to Loki. You remembered the days when you'd first found out that you were soulmates and could hardly bear to be apart from each other; the tugging sensation which had been almost unbearable. The roaring of a huge crowd coming from the stadium grew louder as the tugging led you closer to it.

Unable to shake the feeling that something was wrong, you were led into an awfully large and, dare you say it, grand looking building, and up what started to feel like hundreds of flights of stairs after a while. It seemed suspiciously quiet, and there was an even more suspicious tension in the air. Finally you came across someone going in the opposite direction, and went straight into their mind. There was a big event happening in the stadium... a fight, and something about a champion. And the word 'grandmaster', was that like the king here? In reading the passing creature's mind you'd only served to confuse yourself even more. Oh well, what was important now was that you found Loki and Thor and worked out how to escape this awful place.

Presently you began to hear the unmistakable rumble of a large crowd again and quickened your pace rapidly; you had a bad feeling about all of this. As you rounded another corner, almost running now, you collided with an armed guard.

"Hey!" he yelled, grabbing hold of your arm. Your brain went into overdrive. There were two guards. Loki was just behind the door up ahead, you knew it, but still something wasn't quite right... finally you understood why you'd felt so unnerved all this time.

Loki was fine. He was happy. Not worried or angry or full of revenge... relaxed.

Less than an hour ago he'd seen his father die and fought his demon sister, the Goddess of Death, fallen out of the Bifrost and now here he was... drinking?! His happiness bubbled inside you and you almost smiled because of it, then instantly felt ill. How could you even think of smiling when Fandral, Volstagg and probably the whole Einherjar had just been slaughtered?

A sudden dull blow to your stomach brought you crashing back down to Earth. Or more literally, Sakaar.

"I said, wench, what are you doing up here by the Grandmasters VIP box? Trying to sneak in?" one of the guards scorned, making the other laugh uproariously.

"Only the Golden Ladies and a few of the Grandmasters choice friends are allowed inside the luxury suite. I don't suppose you are one?" the other guard mocked you.

What on Asgard was Loki doing in a 'VIP box'? Half of you wanted to call out to him, but the other half, the half which had not one hour ago seen two of your closest friends die, wanted to surprise and confront him. The second half won.

"What, are you mute you stupid girl? Answer – agh!" one of the guards exclaimed as you dropped your illusion and blasted them both backwards into the wall, knocking them out. They barely had time to raise their weapons.

Leaving them lying on the floor, you paused outside the door to the VIP box. If Loki had really been worried about you he would have noticed your presence the minute you landed on Sakaar, and he would definitely be aware that you were stood less than ten metres away from him. The anger you felt boiled to the surface and you stormed into the room.

The pleasant chatter which had been occurring before you entered stopped rapidly as you clattered into the room, sword drawn and eyes blazing. The fight drained from you as you saw Loki. He was in some weird Sakaarian lounge attire, holding a drink and lounging, talking with a grey-haired man on an obscenely large chaise lounge. They both turned to look at you as you entered; the grey-haired man frowned at you suspiciously. Loki stood up in shock, his drink falling to the ground.

A second later he was in front of you, waving more guards away and taking hold of your forearms, asking you a hundred questions, none of which you heard. You were looking past him to the largest arena you'd ever seen, crammed full of hundreds of thousands of people who were all screaming and cheering loudly.

"Y/N, talk to me. Whose blood is this?!" Loki shook you gently; when you looked back to him there was genuine fear in his eyes. You felt nothing. You looked down at the front of your armour and realised for the first time that you were covered in Fandral's blood. Still you felt nothing. Loki was trying to read your mind. You closed it, ignoring the hurt, confused look on his face as you did.

"Loki, who is this fearsome looking young lady? Introduce me quickly before I go on." the man with grey hair demanded, waving you over. One of the guards tried to take your sword but you tugged it back sharply, slamming it back into its scabbard and wrenching yourself from Loki's grip.

Loki was looking at an utter loss. Eventually he moved over to the man and you followed him, the eyes of everyone in the room still upon you.

"Grandmaster this is Lady Y/N, my... associate. From Asgard."

Associate.

"Well, I suppose as you are a friend of a friend I'll have to let you off barging into my little soiree, as long as it doesn't happen again." the Grandmaster said pleasantly enough, waggling a finger at you. He had eyes like a snake. Loki nudged you.

"Thank you." you said hoarsely.

"You're welcome! Now, get yourself a drink and sit back and enjoy the show!" he said, before leaving the room by a side door.

The second he was gone Loki grabbed you by the shoulders and sat you down.

"Talk to me. Where have you been all this time? It's been weeks, I thought..."

"Weeks?" you repeated in shock.

"Yes...?" Loki responded, frowning.

"But... you and Thor fell out of the Bifrost only an hour ago -"

Horror dawned on Loki's face, and at the same time the Grandmaster walked out into the centre of the arena, a sixty-foot-tall projection of him suddenly looming above the stadium. He began talking to the crowd, hyping them up ready for the show.

"I've been here for over three weeks... I've been so worried..."

You interrupted him with a disbelieving laugh, turning away so that he didn't see the tears which pricked your eyes.

"Okay, I know how this must look, but I knew you weren't dead!"

You closed your eyes as he talked at you. A stress headache was beginning to form at your temples. You had to find Thor and get out of here.

"You're not even listening to me. Look, just open your mind so I can-"

But you stopped listening all together when you heard the Grandmaster's next words.

"I give to you... Lord of Thunder!"

You shot to your feet, at the glass window which looked over the arena in an instant.

Thor. Thor was walking out into the stadium, dressed for battle. His head had been shaved and he was wearing the flimsiest armour you'd ever seen, although he was covered in weapons. As you watched in horror, he looked up at the screaming crowd and put his helmet on.

You turned to Loki in shock and froze when you saw the definite guilt all over his face.

"You knew about this?" you asked him, your voice barely audible with anger.

"I – yes, but listen..."

That did it. You were done listening to him; if you didn't do something to satisfy the weight in your chest soon you were going to pass out. Your vision blurred as you turned back to the stadium: you needed to get to Thor before he got himself killed.

Loki tried to stop you as you turned and made for the door but you shoved him roughly away from you. Then the guards stepped in front of the door before you could leave.

"First you didn't want me in here, and now you don't want me to leave. Make your minds up." you scorned, drawing your sword with a satisfying swish of your cape.

"Whoaa, what's going on? Lady Y/N, stay to watch the show! I insist."

You closed your eyes. This Grandmaster figure was really getting on your nerves.

Y/N listen to him. That wasn't a request, it was an order.

"I'm afraid I also must insist." you replied, turning around.

Then several things happened at once.

The Grandmaster's eyes narrowed and he flicked his wrist at the guards behind you, his eyes not leaving your face. Loki shouted your name, and you saw none other than Hulk facing up to Thor in the arena behind. You barely had time to widen your eyes before one of the guards slapped something cold and metallic on to your neck; you gasped as it seemed to latch on to your skin. Then you were being electrocuted. A cry of pain left you as you pitched forward on to the floor, your head making contact with the ground, hard.

Darkness.

...

The minute you opened your eyes you leapt to your feet, your head spinning crazily. You were in a large room with bars making up two of the walls; weapons lined the other two walls. It looked like some sort of pre-fight holding area. Raising a hand to your neck you felt for the metal circle which had electrocuted you. It was stuck fast on to your skin.

You staggered over to where a small crowd of fighters were gathered around a tiny window, presumably watching Thor and Hulk fight.

Bruce was alive, but what was he doing here on Sakaar and how on Asgard had he wound up here? You knew he'd gone missing after Sokovia... did the Avengers know he was here? You highly doubted it.

"Hey, watch where you're going... lady?" one of the fighters, turned as you knocked into them and seemed taken aback by the fact that you were a woman, as if it weren't weirder that there was a creature entirely made from rocks stood just next to him.

"Sorry." you muttered, clutching your pounding head and craning to see the fight to no avail. You could only hear the roar coming from the hundreds of thousands of people in the arena beyond the small window. You stumbled along the wall of the holding cell until you came to a small gap in the wall and peered through to the arena. It wasn't the VIP box, but it would have to do.

As you pressed your eye to the gap in the wall there was an almighty crash and a roar, and Hulk came into view at your eye level, which was right next to the ground. His face disappeared as he got back to his feet.

"I know you're in there Banner, I'll get you out!" Thor shouted, loud enough so that you could just hear him over the roaring of the crowd. He was wielding a warhammer, which he used to disarm Hulk and then break his weapon with. You winced as Thor then bashed Hulk in the chest, knocking him back to the ground.

"What's the matter with you? You're embarrassing me, I told them we were friends!" Thor shouted angrily at Hulk. You could hardly believe what you were witnessing; you wanted to help but your head was throbbing painfully and you ached all over. Even you knew that it would be stupid to try and get involved in a fight in your current state, especially one between Thor and Hulk.

Now Thor was on his back, and you could hardly bear to watch as Hulk began to pummel him with crushing blows, over and over again. But something was happening to Thor... he was glowing with what looked like electricity. Your mouth fell open as Thor blasted Hulk backwards with a powerful burst of lightning. The crowd was going wild, you could barely hear your own thoughts over the screams and cheers. Seething with electricity, Thor leapt to his feet and blasted Hulk with a second massive lightning blast, sending him flying backwards across the arena.

The crowd was on Thor's side now, chanting: "Thunder! Thunder! Thunder!"

The prisoners further down the holding cell joined in with the chanting, until it was all you could hear. In the arena Thor was getting to his feet, looking down at himself in surprise, at the small charges of electricity crackling through his veins. You could feel the power he was exuding from where you were stood. Hulk charged back towards Thor and they engaged in close quarters fighting again, but this time Thor had a clear advantage.

All of a sudden Thor dropped to the ground. You froze, listening to the gasps of the crowd and trying to work out what had happened. Hulk wasted no time, planting his feet and then launching himself into the air, high above the arena.

"Another day, another Doug." one of the prisoners said despondently, turning away from the window looking out into the arena.

You closed your eyes as Hulk hit the floor, and Thor.