Hi!
Sorry this took so long, I have had a lot going on and couldn't find much time to write.
I really appreciated all of your kind reviews and I wanted to continue, so here's the next chapter!
Peter peered cautiously over the top of the rock, crouching low to avoid being seen. In the second that he had dared to look out, he had spotted nothing. No Thanos, no Avengers… just the derelict land of the unknown planet.
Spiderman jumped down elegantly, performing a smooth backflip as he landed stealthily on both feet. Grinning, he turned around to see Ned's reaction, only to remember that his friend wasn't there. He wouldn't get any shocked expression or a gasp of wonder, just the agonising silence that had reigned the past two days.
Peter knew he had to locate an ally fast – he wasn't doing too badly on water, as Karen had told him that Stark had installed a water filtration function in his suit. Peter was reluctant to drink the 'water' at first, but thirst had eventually won the battle. A day later, the teenager had located a small stream that he had deemed clean, and had been drinking from there. Unfortunately, food was very scarce. Peter luckily had his backpack which contained the packed lunch he had for the field trip, but other than that the last time Peter had eaten was on the bus back on Earth, and fighting had depleted much of his energy.
He made his way back over to the hollow in between the rocks, seeing the familiar black shape that resided there. Peter swung down beside the figure, to crouch low and shake it gently.
"Ummm… Mr Loki Mischief Thor's Brother Sir?" Peter tried, expecting the same reaction as whenever he tried: an irritated groan, but otherwise no sign of movement. The God had been asleep for days, and Peter was honestly beginning to wonder whether he would ever wake up again.
This time, however, Loki's eyes opened into thin slits, his pupils flicking sleepily from side to side as he surveyed his surroundings. Focusing on Peter, Loki frowned at him slowly.
"What did you call me?" he demanded weakly, a look of confusion displayed in his tired features.
Instead of an answer, Peter just beamed at his companion, before blurting out happily, "You're alive!"
When Loki raised an eyebrow at Peter's exclamation, the teenager blushed and corrected himself hastily. "I mean awake. Definitely awake. Never doubted you, Mr Loki Sir. Just glad you're awake…" Peter's rambling was cut off abruptly by a sharp hiss of pain from his companion as he attempted to sit up. Loki clutched his side tightly, his eyes squeezed shut and tiny droplets of sweat beginning to develop on his forehead.
Not quite knowing what to do, Peter just pushed Loki down gently to ease him back into a comfortable position.
"Your wound's still healing." He explained matter-of-factly to Loki, who gave him a scornful look that displayed 'you don't say?', however didn't respond verbally. Remembering the water he had set aside for Loki, Peter swiftly pulled out the strangely shaped rock he had attempted to hollow out as an alternative to a bowl. Holding it to Loki's lips, he watched in amusement the contemptuous expression of his friend as he decided whether he should let this puny human child baby him around. Finally he reached a decision, opening his lips obediently. Peter resisted a smile as he caught the God's eye. Loki's gaze was of warning, but deep inside Peter understood the real message. Thank you.
The next morning, Peter awoke to the feeling of renewed hope bubbling in his chest. His companion was conscious, and Karen had informed him that she had detected a life form at the edge of her radar, some 10 kilometres away. Helping himself to some water, Peter looked over at the spot where his companion had resided the previous night. The space was now empty and there was no trace left behind that anyone had ever rested there.
Peter scrambled to his feet, frantically searching the area for any sign of movement. He spun around wildly, finally spotting a thin silhouette on the edge of a nearby rock formation. Peter launched a web, pulling himself up to be beside his friend who sat in the rocks, his back resting gently on the jagged surface behind him. Not looking over at Peter, he spoke quietly.
"I couldn't sleep." Looking over at Peter's relieved expression at having located him, he added, "Sorry if I frightened you."
Not replying, Peter stared off into the same direction that Loki was looking in, but he saw nothing but stone and dust.
Looking over at Loki who was obviously engaged in deep thought, Peter cautiously revealed what Karen had told him before. Loki's eyes widened at the possibility of rescue, but fell again as he replied.
"But it could be anyone. It could be Thanos' henchmen, or maybe ever the man himself."
Peter shrugged, explaining anxiously.
"We can't know unless we check. It's like Schrodinder's Cat." At this, Loki stared at Peter, perplexed.
"Who's cat?" Sometimes humans really did confuse him. What in the universe was this earth youngling talking about?
"It's a scientific principa- oh, never mind. The point is, we can't know for certain until we go see for ourselves. Up until then, we can only speculate." Sometimes the nerd in Peter really came out.
"Can't you just have your talking costume find out for us?" Loki inquired, looking at Peter's suit dryly, still mulling the cat thing over in his head.
"She- I mean, it was slightly damaged during the fight. Plus, way out here there's no signal, and her battery is slowly dying. I've never really charged her, but I don't know if I should have to…" Peter trailed off, realising that he was rambling.
"The point is," he began again, taking a deep breath to slow himself down, "I should go check it out as soon as possible." At this, Loki frowned again.
"You've not going anywhere by yourself." He ordered, trying to disguise his worry. He didn't care about this child. He was just a human. Oh shit, how had this kid grown on him so easily? Peter looked at him with those big, brown eyes, full of confusion as he fought to figure Loki out.
Sighing, Loki slowly stood up, trying to look as awake as possible. A look of concentration filled his face as he summoned all of the magic he had left within him, channelling it into restoring his energy and reducing the pain in his side. Loki transformed in front of Peter's eyes; instead of the diminished figure there now stood a tall, proud man with a glint in his eye that could make no one doubt his title. He was Loki, the God of Mischief.
Peter watched in amazement as his companion changed to a figure worthy of legend. The green highlights on his cape perfectly complimented his glowing blue eyes, and the black fabric was perfectly restored, as dark as the wavy locks that fell over his shoulders. Loki decided to leave out the horned helmet. It didn't really seem appropriate in the current situation.
Peter's lips were slightly parted and his eyes unblinking. All of his attention was focused on Loki as he summoned his strength.
"Wow." He breathed out softly, exhaling breath he didn't know he had been holding. Loki's lips twitched craftily, but mostly his eyes betraying how pleased he was with Peter's reaction. Coughing subtly, he raised an eyebrow when Peter remained transfixed.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry." The teenager shook his head as if breaking out of a daze, looking away from Loki. He had no idea how to follow on from his companion's actions, so he just grabbed his backpack and tried to stand up majestically… but, being Peter Parker, he tripped over his own feet, causing himself to be thrown sideways and hurtle down to the ground over the edge of the rock.
Loki cried out in surprise, launching himself to the edge of the cliff after Peter who had just disappeared over the side into the abyss below. The God scrambled over the rocks, intently searching for the teenager below.
"Peter!" He called out, desperately trying to find a solution. His heart was going at a hundred miles per hour as he had never felt it go before, and he was suddenly faced with a realisation. He didn't know what he would do if something happened to Peter, and would hold himself personally accountable. He would never forgive himself. And Stark. He already had a strange feeling that the billionaire rather disliked him (probably because of New York, but who knows) and he would never let him live if something happened to Peter under his watch.
All of Loki's doubts and fears were immediately vanquished, however, as soon as he heard a shout from the darkness.
"It's alright Mr Loki! I'm here, I'm fine!" Loki breathed out heavily, closing his eyes for a moment in relief. He looked in the direction of the voice, and, sure enough, there was Peter scuttling towards him. Loki stretched out a hand even though he knew it wasn't necessary, and felt his stomach lurch as the teenager accepted the offer. He grasped Peter's hand, pulling him up to stand beside him. He resisted the urge to hug the Spider-ling, as he stared at him with excitement in his eyes.
"Sorry if I scared you, Mr Loki Sir." Peter apologised, sincerely gazing into his friend's eyes. This simple statement took Loki back to twenty minutes before when he himself had stated sorry is I frightened you. Something unexplainable moved in Loki's chest, and he pushed the thought away.
"We should get moving." Loki turned around to disguise the reality that his eyes were watering ever so slightly. He had no idea why he kept feeling this way. There was just something about this kid.
He began making his way in the direction that Peter had pointed in earlier, hearing the teenager scramble behind him eagerly until the two heroes were walking side by side.
The pair walking in silence for quite a while, only speaking to ask for the water or to make similar comments. Finally, Loki addressed Peter with a question.
"How can you climb like that? And that web thing. How does it work?"
Shocked but pleased to be asked this by someone he was keen to impress, Peter answered enthusiastically:
"Well, I was bitten by a radioactive spider which really should have given me radiation poisoning, but somehow it made me great at climbing walls and the such as well as making me really strong and fast." He paused for a breath there, forcing his mind to slow down.
"I see." Loki commented, but the teenager wasn't done yet.
"Mr Stark saw me on YouTube and recruited me to help him fight Captain America in Germany, and made me this awesome suit (even though the web shooters are my own design). I defeated this guy who was called the Vulture and he was actually my girlfriend's dad- it was super crazy but then I got dragged up here into space on a giant donut spaceship to help fight Thanos."
He finally broke off, satisfied that he had covered the basics.
"YouTube?" Loki inquired, not sure whether he misheard.
"It's…" Peter thought of how to explain this to his extra-terrestrial friend, "it's kinda like a… place, on the internet…"
Loki nodded understandingly. Thor had told him of the internet from his experience on Earth. He explained that it was basically millions of books filled with information, but in one small rectangle. It sounded very useful.
"And you can watch and put videos on it. Films and clips. Recording. You know." Loki did not know, yet he nodded again anyway.
"Seems like you had quite some excitement." He stated, just waiting for Peter to ask him back. Sensing the wish, Peter obediently questioned.
"What about you? How did you get… from New York to here?" Loki smiled, preparing his answer carefully.
"My brother's girlfriend got an ancient force embedded in her, I died then pretended to be my father for several years. I got assaulted by a sorcerer when I accidently lost our father. I then got lost in a great place and made lots of friends until Thor showed up and stupidly got himself captured. I then had to rescue him, of course, and sacrifice Asgard while he killed our sister."
Peter didn't know what to say once Loki had finished. His own story seemed quite bleak in comparison. The duo turned a corner, to find themselves facing a familiar gathering of people who looked like they were searching for something. Before either of them had time to react, a shout echoed around the desolate area.
"PETER!"
Spiderman's vision was filled with red and orange and, before he knew it, he was being tightly hugged by a heavily armoured man. He squeezed back, not doubting for a second the identity of the new arrival.
"Mr Stark!" He exclaimed happily once he had been released, beaming at his hero as the metal mast quickly folded backwards. He saw the brief look of joy in his mentor's eyes before they suddenly grew strict and menacing.
"Don't you ever do that again!" He ordered, frowning at Peter disapprovingly before his gaze softened and he embraced Peter again. "I'm just glad you're safe." He whispered into Peter's ear, before resting his hands on the teenager's shoulders and staring intently at the 16 year old in front of him disbelievingly, as if expecting him to disappear in a puff of smoke any second.
"Mr Stark, I made a new friend!" Peter announced, looking back at Loki. He seemed to have lost a little colour from his face, and was beginning to look tired again.
Tony advanced menacingly towards Loki, raising his hand. As Peter opened his mouth to protest, he was startled by what Tony did. He offered his hand to Loki. The God looked surprised but he took it anyway, shaking Stark's hand.
"Thank you for looking after him." Tony smiled. At this point, the remainder of the group had arrived. It consisted of Captain America, Black Widow, Bruce Banner and…
"Brother!" Thor rushed forward, not pausing to think for a moment whether it was an illusion or not. He knew it was Loki. He squeezed his brother firmly, delighted to see him again (everyone understood- Thor had explained Loki's true allegiance).
As Thor did this, however, a cry burst from Loki's lungs. Everyone turned their heads to the source of the sound when Thor released his grip in surprise. Peter was by Loki's side as quickly as before, supporting him while shouting for help. Bruce appeared at the front of the crowd, barking instructions as his instincts kicked in.
Tony pulled Peter away as soon as Loki was in Bruce's competent hands, holding him to his chest.
"It's going to be OK." He assured the teenager as they both watched Bruce set to work on his diagnosis.
That's it for this time, I have just finished packing to go to the Czech Republic and will have plenty of time on my hands over the holidays to continue this and figure out what happens next!
As always, thank you for reading!