Vulnerable, Chapter 6
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Daylight was just breaking on the morning of December 5th when Loki, carrying an unconscious Ande, finally emerged from the cave they'd been imprisoned in for seven years.
Loki was able to pinpoint their location with supreme accuracy- it seemed as if his magic was beginning to return, one tiny bit at a time. It was slightly humorous for him to think that, though it felt like they were in a completely different universe, they hadn't even left the region formerly known as America.
More specifically: Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico.
They weren't more than one hundred miles from where Thor crash landed when Odin first banished him.
The wind outside was blissfully cool against his raw skin- which was healing rapidly, by the way. He could have stayed standing where he was for a while longer, but he knew he had to keep moving. Ande needed serious medical attention, and the longer they were out in the open, the more the danger grew.
They had to find some sort of shelter- and soon. His magic was no where near strong enough to transport them anywhere yet; though, he thought, he wouldn't know where to go even if it was a possibility.
Resigning himself to a long walk, he shifted Ande into a more comfortable position for the both of them and set off, heading north to a hopefully safer region.
0-0-0-0
He stuck to the shadows, wandering through a thin forest of juniper trees. The more he walked, the hotter it seemed to get, but that was likely caused by the exertion. Every now and then, he could feel a tiny amount of power trickle into his system, but it still wasn't enough to do much besides keep the both of them at a regulated temperature.
At the twenty mile mark, Ande finally came back to consciousness. She still wouldn't speak- the reason for which Loki would investigate when he stopped to rest- but she made it quite clear that she wanted to walk on her own. Loki scoffed on the outside, but was actually delighted. A bit of her usual stubbornness was starting to show through her feverish haze.
Loki, of course, refused her request, and she spent the next ten or so miles scowling. Eventually, she did fall back asleep. By the time they'd traveled forty miles, dusk was settling, and Loki figured it was as good a time as any to stop for the night.
Carefully, he lowered the unconscious daughter of Athena underneath a larger juniper tree and went about creating a makeshift shelter for the two of them. Well, the wigwam/teepee-thing he'd attempted ended up collapsing halfway through building, so he gave up on that endeavor and decided to look for food instead.
He'd be the first to admit that he was no skilled scavenger. Unlike Thor, who was surprisingly stealthy when it came to hunting, the god of mischief had little tolerance for such things.
Meat was obviously out of the question; aside from the fact that the area was particularly void of animal life, he wasn't sure if he could stomach it at the moment.
The few shrubs poking out of the dusty ground were dry and bland, but the roots were decent enough for consumption. He scrounged around until he came up with a handful of them and then made a small pile on top of Ande's tattered, purple cape.
The juniper trees were full of berry-like objects. Loki plucked one from a branch above his head and rolled it between his skinny fingers.
Edible? He had no idea. He used his nails to break open the thick skin. Well, it seemed safe, at least. He popped the broken berry in his mouth and chewed.
Bitter. Dry.
Disgusting.
But it was still food, so he continued picking the blue-grey berries until there was a decent sized pile next to the roots.
Cooking the food was proving to be a bit of a problem. He didn't dare risk a fire now that night was falling, afraid that the smoke in such an open area would alert their enemies to their presence.
There was always the option of eating raw, he supposed.
He extracted a large, flat stone from the dust, brushed it off, and placed a handful of juniper berries on top of it. With a smaller stone, he crushed them into an unattractive mush, which he scraped onto another, slightly bowl-shaped rock.
The roots from the shrubs were easily sliced into small circles with a sharp stick, and when mixed with a bit of sage, tasted quite good uncooked.
Pleased with his work, he brought both dishes of food over to the shade where Ande was asleep. He gently prodded her awake. She was startlingly pale in the dimming light, except for her cheeks, which were flushed a bright red from her fever. Quickly, he placed the back of his hand on her forehead. Still burning- the fever hadn't broken yet, and, in fact, seemed to have worsened in the past half an hour.
"I brought food," Loki whispered, pushing a rock covered in berry mush into her skeletal hands. Gingerly, she accepted it, but made no move to eat.
"Eat," he commanded, passing a flat stick over to use as a spoon. She just stared blankly at the ground as if she didn't comprehend what he was asking.
The dried trickle of blood that was caked on her face reminded him that there was obviously something wrong with her mouth. Of course, he'd been stupid not to have remembered that earlier.
He removed the stone and stick from her hands and moved his fingers to her mouth. She didn't try and stop him, instead keeping her eyes trained on the dirt.
Loki gently pried open her chapped lips and was repulsed by what he found.
Her tongue was brutally nailed to the roof of her mouth.
Loki was sickened. He wanted to bend over and heave up anything in his stomach, and he had to try very hard to resist the urge. Just the thought of her having to live through that pain for seven years made his blood boil. It made his whole body tremble with fury.
But now was not the time to act that way. He had to get her help.
He leaned in for a closer inspection of the wound. It was infected, obviously. He was fairly certain the nail was rusty, but that could just be dried blood. It had long since stopped bleeding, however, and tissue had started to grow around the foreign object, as if it was accepting it as its own.
Loki knew he couldn't do anything about it here and now. It would only cause more pain for him to try and remove it. He was by no means a medical expert, and since his healing magic was limited to minor cuts and diseases, it wasn't safe. If anything, the situation would worsen from him taking the nail out.
It also meant that she couldn't eat. Fluids were an option, he thought, but any sort of solid food was definitely out. Unfortunately, he had no idea as to where a source of water could be. He'd been planning on finding one in the morning- even gods can become dehydrated after a long enough period of time.
She needed food. Her ribs were protruding unhealthily from her torso. She was almost literally skin and bones.
Quickly, he crafted together two options:
Option 1- They could wait it out until morning, find a water source, and go for help.
Option 2- He could leave her unattended in the dark and search for water nearby.
Option one was more favorable, but she needed something in her system, and she needed it now. Her immortality had worn off now that they had left the cave, and she wouldn't last long without sustenance.
"I'm going to find water," he said, brushing his thumb across her hollow cheek. "Don't go anywhere."
No response.
He stood and left, placing a weak concealing charm around the tree. It wouldn't be able to keep humans out, but hopefully it would discourage wild animals from going near her.
Loki hiked for nearly an hour with no luck before he stopped and climbed a tree taller than the rest. From his elevated perch, he could see for miles, all the way to some sort of small city further west. They would have to avoid that or risk being caught.
The landscape was basically unchanging and constant, with a few clumps of brittle bushes here and there, the occasional cacti, and juniper trees scattered throughout. A helicopter hovered overhead, its rotors cutting through the air almost silently.
No water, from what he could-
Helicopter.
Loki snapped his head towards the sky, shrinking down from where he sat. Yes, a sleek, black, military copter was circling above him, and in the dark night, it was difficult to make out the faint writing adorning the sides and bottom.
He squinted up at it, trying to read the writing. He could just discern an 'S' and an 'E' when a bright search light snapped on, nearly blinding him.
Automatically, he dropped his gaze and rubbed his eyes, attempting to get rid of the black spots dancing in front of him.
While he was momentarily blinded and distracted, he barely noticed the mortal machine landing softly on the desert ground next to him. He didn't notice the agent, who was dressed in black, pull out a gun and shoot something into his forearm.
He was fighting a black-out as he fell out of the tree.
He was unconscious by the time he hit the ground.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Author's Note: Hi, everybody. I'm really sorry (again) about the delay for this chapter. I hope you aren't holding it against me. I'll be able to update more freely once school gets out on June 1st. I promise more frequently posted chapters then.
Thank you all so much for the outstanding feedback I've received for this. Again, once summer hits, I'll be able to respond to every review because I'll have more time. But I really do appreciate it.
So who saw the Avengers? Who cried when a certain agent did a certain something? I did. I sobbed. I'm in post-Avengers depression again, which can only be alleviated by seeing Avengers 2.
Unfortunately, Joss Whedon hates us all.
Thanks for reading! Please review!
-SketchbookPianist