GASPING FOR AIR
By spockslovechild
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Chapter One - BROKEN
The pain was agonizing. Torturous, even. He sucked in a gasp for breath and a single cough brought up blood from his lungs. His mouth opened to scream and scream, but his screams were silenced by his pain. Quickly replaced with quiet sobs.
His body lay unmovable amongst a crumbled pile of rubble, debris and shards of glass – several small pieces, of which, had lodged themselves in Loki's temple; in a deep gash opened above his brow line with thick, red blood trickling down the left side of his face. His chest rose slowly, but only slight. It was hard for him to tell what was broken and what wasn't; but easy enough for him to tell. His ribcage burned. His lungs ached. Everything just shy of his mid-section felt twisted in on themselves.
And then there was the pounding. The un-godly, maddening pounding. It was nauseating. And it wouldn't stop. Loki shut his eyes and tried to think of other thinks but his thoughts were quickly over taken by the constant pounding. His head swirled with visions of black clouds; smoke and fire, destruction outside these walls. The crater his body created rocked his slender frame. The broken tiles splintered out in all directions around him.
Loki flexed his fingers, each one aching as badly as the one before it. But there was something else. His entire left arm felt numb. There was no pain. There was nothing. The limb felt completely foreign to him. He used his more functional hand to lift his weightless arm from the ground and drape it over his chest.
He bit the interior of his cheek, and then pulled himself up. Only pain followed. Terrible, nail-biting pain. He tried to inhale but the only thing to come of it was a wheezing, hacking cough. Loki's fingers pressed along his weightless arm and continued upward until his arm connected to his shoulder.
Or should, anyway. The shoulder bone had been dislodged from its socket. Grasping it tightly, Loki worked it slowly back into place. SNAP! It was just momentary. The surge of pain jumped up his arm to his neck. The demi-god shut his eyes, tightly, and bit down on his lower lip. Enough to draw blood. But he could move his arm again. He pressed his right hand against the battered floor and attempted to push himself to his feet. But he faltered, and his knees buckled under the weight.
Loki grimaced as he fell onto his belly. His stomach twisted in knots. He began to pull himself towards the two-step staircase leading to the bar. It's funny; only an hour earlier, Tony Stark was offering him a drink. He could sure go for that drink right about now. As his right hand reached the top step, something caught his ear. Like a buzzing sound only… not. The Trickster demi-god twisted his body around and collapsed backward on the steps. His chest heaved greatly. The pounding was back. Only this time, Loki realized it was his heart. His eyelids closed for half a second before opening again, this time to greet a familiar crowd of faces.
The Avengers.
A/N: I realize this is a short chapter. The next one will be longer. Promise! Please read and review. I FEED on comments... and brownies :)