Blind
Chapter 1:
This isn't happening.
This can't be…
This isn't real.
This isn't real.
Oh God, God please.
It is all which passes through Thor's mind as he runs, staggering through the sliding glass doors of emergency, following fast on the heels of an ambulance team, pushing a gurney, his little brother strapped, unresponsive, to it, an oxygen mask pressed fiercely over his nose and mouth.
Behind him, Thor barely registers the sound of his friends running at his back, or the yelled out, efficient orders of the medical team, calling for assistance.
Doctors and nurses come streaming from unseen places, surrounding the gurney until Thor can no longer see Loki.
Can no longer see the torn apart, blood smeared mess of his eyes.
It had been an accident.
An accident!
Thor at the wheel. There'd been no reason, no possibility for this. He'd had his license a year. A year! And he was a good driver! A safe, responsible driver! It was why Mother and Father let him take Loki out with him. Why they felt okay with it.
There are only flashes he remembers now.
Sif in the passenger side. Volstagg, Fandral and Hogun crammed into the back, with Loki nearly crushed against the back door at the seats end.
They'd been… they'd been teasing Loki. They always did that. They always teased his brother. Laughing about… about the way he wasn't really any good at sports. About how he chose instead to sit inside all day and draw, or… or read.
Loki had… Loki had started getting upset. He'd… oh, he was only ten years old. What did they expect?
He'd started crying, and Thor had told his friends to knock it off. Only they hadn't. They'd kept laughing and teasing, and Loki had really started crying, and Thor had gotten angry. He'd gotten angry and turned around to yell at Fandral and Volstagg, to tell them to fucking quit it.
He'd taken his eyes off the road for a few seconds, that was it.
It was an accident.
And then there'd been nothing but chaos. Violence and noise and the feeling of utter, terrifying helplessness.
Thor was a big kid. He was tall and strong. The star cornerback of his high school football team.
He'd never known the feeling of being tossed around like he was nothing.
He didn't know what that was like at all. Until that moment. Until that car had come out of nowhere and… and…
When the insanity had finally stopped, and he'd opened his eyes, he'd found himself in Sif's lap, somehow, Sif's eyes fluttering as she had come to beneath him.
Time had seemed to drag forever then, his mind still lost and confused, still unsure of what the hell had happened.
And then he'd heard Fandral's voice, trembling and broken up, like he was crying.
"Oh God… oh God…"
And he'd twisted around, his eyes finding the back seat, finding all of his friends, dazed but more or less unharmed looking.
His eyes shifting to Loki. To where Loki was.
And he hadn't been able to understand what he was seeing at first.
It hadn't registered right away in his mind.
Only realized after seconds stretching into eternity that there was blood. So much blood. And that Loki wasn't conscious, like the rest of them. That he was hanging there, limp against his seat belt, head bowed so far his chin was touching his chest.
And there was blood, and shattered glass everywhere, and as the seconds wore on, it dawned on Thor that it was that one side of the car which was crushed in.
That the impact had hit right where Loki had been sitting, and oh God, oh God, he'd panicked, and started crying and screaming, struggling desperately to turn over, crawling off of Sif and trying to reach back there, to reach his baby brother.
In the end, it had been Sif who'd been level headed enough to pull out her cell phone and dial 911, who'd gotten an ambulance to them in time.
The rest of them had been checked over by one of the team even as the others had cut Loki out of his seatbelt and gotten him out of the car.
Again, it had taken Sif to reason with Thor not to pull his brother out on his own, arguing that he might cause more damage by moving him, but Thor hadn't been able to keep himself from breaking free of the medic and running to Loki's side as they'd begun loading him into the back of the ambulance.
They'd let him ride along to the hospital, along with Sif and the others.
And Christ, the worst any of the rest of them had had was a few scrapes and bruises, including the drunk piece of shit bastard who'd crashed into them.
And here Thor is now, watching his brother being carted into the intensive care unit, and he's being pushed back from following by nurses and guards, even as he screams and pleads with them to let him go, to let him be with Loki, because that's his brother, that's his little, baby brother, and fuck, FUCK, he's only ten years old and he's going to be so scared when he wakes up and please, please Jesus Christ…
In the end, Volstagg and Hogun and Fandral are needed to pull Thor back all the way, telling him it'll be okay, that Loki's in good hands and everything's going to be alright.
But that's bullshit. They're lying.
Loki isn't alright. He's alone in there, fighting for his life, and he's only ten years old, and this is Thor's fucking fault and why the hell did he take his eyes off the road?!
He wipes a broad hand back against his eyes, trying to clear the tears from them, scowling as he turns from his friends, only to run into Sif.
She reaches out a hand, placing it gently against his shoulder.
"Thor…" she says quietly, looking up at him with sympathetic eyes, and he wants to tell her to fuck off, but that isn't fair. Without her, Loki might not even have gotten the care he needed on time. "I think maybe you need to call your parents." She says, and Thor's heart suddenly drops, and if possible, he feels even sicker than he did before.
/
AN: I know, I know, another new story, but the inspiration for this one just hit me suddenly and I thought I'd give it a crack. My usual, tragic fare. Let me know what you guys think thus far, and whether you think I should continue or not. And thanks so much to everyone who gave it a try!