Thor took me into the dining hall, and there was something peculiar and foreign about him that I couldn't place....

All thought expel from my head as the dining hall came into view, a long  table with the highest ranking warriors, lords, and ladies. The I see Lady Sif and the warriors three seated with empty seats around them. Two, to be precise. One for Thor and one for.... me.
When we approached them they all smiled at me and Thor brightly, "Lady Lyra! I am ecstatic to see you awake at last. We weren't sure when you'd come too," Fandrall said as Thor politely pulled out a chair out for me, I gave him a curt nod for as a thank you, still confused out of my mind about WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING.

"Umm, thank you," I say, sitting down.Fandrall said they weren't sure I would be awake, so why is there a spare seat saved for me if they didn't know I'd be here? At the head of the table sat Odin and his wife dining on food, I couldn't help but stare at the normalcy of it all. The king met my eyes and I flinch as he inclined his head toward me, I jerked my chin back toward the food before us, and I hadn't realized how hungry I was until my stomach practically lurched at the sight of the delicacies in front of me. I dismiss the peculiar feeling I got, but I immediately wish I didn't.

I took a bit of fruit, and as soon as I swallow my insides burned and my throat immediately twisted and screamed in protest. I tried to cough up the food but my body began working on its own, burning agony had me clutching my throat and crying out. "Lyra?" Thor asks in a concerned voice, I see Lady Sif and the Warriors Three watching me with concerned eyes. Unmoving, just puzzled.

The realization slammed into me, I stood up and stumbled backward away from the table, away from my friends and the people I've fought with my whole life. "Lyra, what are you doing?" Thor calls toward me. I just shook my head and tried to fight the reality that had exposed itself to me.

This isn't real.

-Nebula

Nebula stared at the girl as she remains suspended in midair, her chestnut hair waving and floating around her as if she was underwater. She knew by the monitor before her that the illusion her and Thanos has slipped into her mind. It was difficult to pluck things from the girl Lyra's memory, Nebula could barely put accurate pictures in her head, but luckily it was enough to work.

"Is it working?" Thanos asks, stepping over toward the containment unit built specifically to keep her.

"Yes, Father. Her mind has accepted the image but she has already began to resist it," She told Thanos, using the projection to analyze her heart beat and brain patterns. "Feisty little bird, isn't she?" The Mad Titan drawls, circling Lyra like a predator. Nebula fought the hate that rose in her at the sight of him stalking her like she is his prey and nothing more. Nebula felt little remorse for the girl, but she did pity Lyra, and hell she understood plenty well what it was like to suffer at the hand of the Mad Titan.

Nebula didn't understand why Thanos was starting off easy on Lyra, the illusion he requested would not bring out anything in her, it may deepen her desperation, or confuse her, but it is not going to bring out the weapon he needs in her. Nebula dreads what that will bring, awakening the power inside that girl's veins. Entire planets will burn at the hand of Thanos, he might eliminate the need for the Stones altogether. The thought petrified her to no end, Nebula could only pray Lyra's willpower really is as strong as it seems, a warrior's soul. Nebula couldn't care less about her wellbeing, but she wouldn't exactly delight in watching the entire universe go up in flames.

"She'll awake any moment now, Father. She knows it is not real," Nebula informed Thanos, who only watched the girl with keen and unyielding eyes. "Let her awake, it is pointless to keep her under much longer. We have work to do,"

Nebula didn't ask him what exactly he meant by that, he never informed her on his planning until the time came. She would get pissed off by that fact, but her father is like that with everyone, even his esteemed daughter Gamora. Thanos had given her some instructions on some illusions to prepare, but he didn't say anything about when he was planning on using those.

As Nebula had said, seconds later, Lyra awoke with a gasp, her eyes flying open to reveal the crystal blue pools that were hidden behind her lids. Her head jerked all around, her eyes widening as she realized she was back in the last place in the universe she'd ever want to be. Nebula almost felt sorry for her, but not quite. The illusion Nebula had planted in her mind was barely enough to get her riled up emotionally, Nebula didn't doubt the Lyra could handle it just fine. The steady rise and fall of her chest rapidly grew as Lyra's eyes landed on Thanos, who is still circling her like a wolf, eyes bright with lust. Not of Lyra, of course, but of the power that lurked beneath her skin.

Nebula looked back at the monitor, checking the invisible restraints on Lyra so she couldn't move, though the machine that kept her in midair was enough to do so already. Lyra went taught, the pressure of the restraints no doubt uncomfortable. "Had fun with that, did you?" Lyra taunts, Nebula winces at her wordplay. It's never a good idea to taunt the Mad Titan, but she guesses Lyra realizes there's no point in trying to sweet talk herself out of her situation.

Thanos grinned at her, a wolf's smile.

"Start it again, Nebula."

- Lyra

I couldn't begin to count how many times they had put me through that simulation. Each time the darkness pulled me under, I couldn't fight it. When I woke in my chambers on Asgard over and over again, I thought that this was the last thing that would break me. I reminded myself that I was lucky to be able to see my old friends again, when I had thought I would never again, but I couldn't have been more young. I find as I see them over and over again, it was bordering on driving me insane. Each time I woke up, I got hungrier, more frustrated, angrier, and each time Thor had strolled into my room like it was the nothing I had wanted to scream.

So many emotions teared through me at once it became hard to name them and describe them. Thor had always been my best friend, we had fought together since we were children, and the knowledge that I'd never see him again was too much to bare. When I'd wake up in my old chambers it was only a painful reminder on the life I'd never once again have, the normalcy that I'd given up. And most of all it reminded me of the person I'd never again get to share it with. With that thought I held my wrist to my chest, cradling my bracelet to me as an anchor that held me down.

This isn't real, you can get through this

And still the illusions kept coming, in a never ending loop. There is no doubt in my mind that the number is in the hundreds, maybe thousands, hours upon hours of psychological torment.

It was bad enough that each time I was seeing a replay of my dearest friends, each time that hole in my stomach grew, and my stomach was basically screaming in pain and the need for food. And the food in the dining hall wouldn't do anything but hurt me, but the temptation was still killing me. Every time I did succumb to that temptation and ate the food in the dining hall, the hunger only grew and so did the pain. It was a different kind of pain then what Thanos did to me the first time, it was a psychological blow every time. The emotional need for my friends and family was torture, and the physical need for food and nutrients in my body was something more painful and cruel.

I try to convince the fake Thor that all I need is more rest, insisting he let me stay in my chambers to be spared from seeing my dear friends, but he'd only said "Nonsense! A lady needs to eat," and took me to the dining hall.

I stopped resisting after a while, I just kept quiet and tried to wait out the loop, tried to resist the hunger and the need to gaze upon the faces of my friends.

But of course, the thing about an endless loop, is that it has no end.