It was the midnight by the time Betsy awoke from her nightmare, to find Loki's strong arms wrapped around her small waist. He felt warm, despite his cold exterior appearance and heritage. He fit snugly against her back; match all her curves with his own, fitting like two puzzle pieces. She awoke to the sound of voices coming from outside, Loki having more sensitive ears than hers, leapt out bed to watch out her large window at the fuss.
"It's Thor. He's returned from Midgard. I believe he is trying to ask Allfather something. I shall go down and speak with my brother." Loki said, answering her unasked question. She nodded her head, and was rewarded with a kiss to the forehead by the demi-god prince. "I shall return shortly, go back to sleep." He replied, leaving her alone in her room.
Once the door shut, Betsy was too wide-awake with curiosity to not venture towards the throne room where she knew Odin sat everyday. She slipped out of her room, silent as the night, her years of training making it second nature to walk quietly. She heard the sound of yelling and when she walked into the throne room, was greeted with the sight of Loki, Thor, and some pissed off Avengers.
After the Avengers had successfully made it through the Bifrost, Heimdall was waiting for them, unblinkingly staring past them towards space.
"Welcome to Asgard, Captain America, Iron Man, and Hawkeye. And welcome home, Prince Thor." Heimdall spoke to the men and bowing slightly before the future king. Thor nodded his head in acknowledgement and led the group of men off towards the castle. Once inside, he began instructing the team.
"I will take you to Allfather, there he will summon Loki and Agent Buckingham, and we'll be able to discuss our situation with them, and have Allfather's blessing at our next task." Thor commanded in his deep voice. He left no room for discussion, and the rest of the Avengers, knowing they were no longer on Earth, had no choice but to follower the demi-god's decision.
Although Hawkeye didn't feel the best once being transported back to Asgard, he hid his emotions and feelings well, placing a look of determination and irritation upon his face, and taking calm deep breaths. He knew he didn't have much time before he'd feel the side affects of their journey, but his determination to bring his partner home was stronger than his queasiness.
Once they entered the throne room, bowed before the Allfather, and politely answered all his questions, Loki arrived, dressed in his usual green and black leather and metal armor without his helmet or cap.
"Allfather, what are they doing here?" he asked, looking at the three Avengers and his brother. The three men had never seen Loki in his Jotunheim form, with the exception of Clint but were too sick to pay close attention, and were quickly showed their amazement and fear of his threatening look. Although no one could see Stark's face behind the Iron Man helmet, he made the sound between a gasp, and a shriek. Loki didn't feel all that great with his looks, and became more self-conscious upon hearing and witnessing their reactions.
"They have come for the girl known as, King Cobra. Where is she?" Odin asked, looking down with his one good eye at his adopted son. Thor understood what turmoil Odin was going through, wanting his son to be redeemed and wanting to remain peaceful with the people of Midgard, was not an easy task for the king.
"Clint? Stark? Rogers? What are you doing here?" the southern voice of Agent Cobra rang through the large room. She had snuck up behind Loki, and he hadn't felt her presence, too focused on the men in front of him. He turned to see her, still dressed in the beautiful yellow ball gown from the previous night. The three Avengers were surprised to see her so well dressed, and well fed. She had no physical markings on her, besides the scars she had from her life as a Cobra, and her voice and eyes held no signs of possession.
"Betsy? C'mon we've got to get you out of here!" Stark said first, breaking the three men's silence. He walked towards her and grabbed her arm with one of his armored hand.
"Don't you dare touch her!" Loki growled at the 5'9 Avenger. Tony instantly let her arm go, and moved his hands up into his defensive stance with the engines within his suit roaring to life. His hands began to glow with the energy it was able to shot on stand-by.
"Don't make me hurt you big guy. All we want is to bring her home." Tony said, Clint instantly had his bow and arrows ready, and Steve had his shield ready to throw.
The three versus one team quickly were established, while Odin could do little to calm the growing situation.
"She's not going anywhere." Loki growled at the three battle ready Avengers. Thor instantly stepped between his brother and his teammates, wanting a peaceful discussion as opposed to the fighting.
"Please friends, let us just talk about this in a more civil manner. I'm sure Loki has a good reason for his motive to keep Lady Betsy here." Thor began, but was interrupted by Clint shooting off his first arrow, aimed for Loki's eye.
"Clint!" Betsy screamed in an angered voice as the arrow soared at high speed towards the blue demi-god. He easily caught it and sent it flying towards the wall where it exploded.
At that moment, Clint jumped onto Loki tackling out the window and onto the balcony and roofs outside. Tony and Steve instantly tried to join the fight, but Thor jumped between them and the window, sending them hurling out the castle and down towards the courtyard below. Betsy ran to the window watching the people she cared about the most in the world fight with each other. She instantly ran to her room to find her SHIELD suit and to regain her weapons that she had brought originally with her.
Outside in the castle's courtyard, Thor, Steve, and Tony were all fighting, like they had in the woods when Thor first returned to fetch Loki when SHIELD had captured him the first time. Now here the three Avengers stood facing each other, ready to duke it out again, but with a different motive this time.
"You said you wouldn't attack! You gave me your word that we talk about this, not fight like mindless warriors!" Thor was yelling and accusing the two other Avengers; Steven hung his head in shame, knowing he did promise his word to the future king. Tony, also hung his head, knowing Thor was right, fighting wouldn't solve anything, the three called a mutual truce again and proceeded to find Clint and Loki who they found fighting it out on the roofs of the castles.
Loki was on the run, he was constantly climbing higher out of Clint's attempts to stab him, slash him, or punch him. Although Loki had expert training in hand-to-hand combat, his alien strength would also favor him, he didn't want to hurt Clint, because of what he meant to Betsy. So instead he fled, trying to reach the large balcony a good five stories above him, where he could face him.
By then, Betsy had discarded the beautiful ball gown, and the fancy jewelry to change back into her dark blue/black SHIELD jumpsuit with her holsters full of guns, knives, and ammunition ready. She just finished tying her boots when Gus came running in.
"Lady Betsy! Prince Loki is being chased by a man with a bow!" Gus was screaming franticly to the already worried agent. She merely nodded at the boy and took of running towards the large balcony below her room. She had heard between Gus's frantic cries that explained where Clint was perusing Loki.
As Loki continued to fight and climb his way up the castle's side, he had to stop a few times to fight off Clint, and get another head start. As he reached a small ledge area, it had many statues and with the night being dark, it hid him well. Although Clint, even with his expert eyesight, still couldn't see Loki in the darkness that surrounded the two.
"Come out and fight like a man you chicken!" Clint yelled towards the darkness. He knew he had the edge, knowing Loki's loyalty to Betsy, he knew he wouldn't kill him, so he figured he had nothing to loose. "What's the matter monster? Did you really think she'd stay here forever?" Clint continued to mock his hidden opponent. "Don't ever believe her! After all she is a spy! She's known to be the bets liar on the planet! What makes you think she'd ever be loyal to a monster like you?" He continued to speak towards the hiding demi-god.
"Clint enough! Stop this right now! We gave Thor our word that we wouldn't cause trouble if he agreed to let us come! C'mon Clint he's not worth the fight!" Steve tried to yell up at the sniper.
"You don't know what you're talking about Rogers! He's mine! He's the one who messed with my head, he's the one who killed Coulson, and he's the one who kidnapped my best friend and partner! He's not getting off the hook this time!" Clint shouted back, finally spying his opponent. "Ha! C'mon Loki, face the truth! Betsy's never going to be yours, she'll always be mine!" He shouted at the trickster. Although Loki had promised himself that he wouldn't hurt the sniper because of Betsy's love for him, he couldn't ignore his taunting words, the mockery in his voice, and the condescending attitude he had towards his partner and himself.
Fueled by rage at his last words, Loki leapt out of the darkness and tackled the archer where he stood.
"Don't you dare talk about her like that! She's not anyone's to claim! We are all just lucky to have her in our lives, what makes you think you have any ownership of her?" Loki asked through gritted teeth. He was trying to keep his emotions under control, but it was becoming more and more difficult. He was now holding Clint in a headlock, with a grip that could easily break the sniper's neck.
"Loki!" The two men turned their heads up to look at the figure of Betsy, now clad in her SHIELD uniform but still wearing the pearl necklace that Frigga had given her. "Please stop this Clint! Loki's not the enemy!" Betsy shouted down. A light rain had begun to fall, and Loki's anger towards the archer quickly diminished when he saw Betsy standing above them. He quickly let the archer go and begun climbing the final distance between himself and the one person he cared about more than anything in the entire universe. Betsy had her hand stretched downwards to reach for his, to assist him on the climb up.
"You stayed? Why would you stay?" Loki asked, now leveled with her, and hanging on to the balcony with one hand, and his other stroking her hair. Her dark locks were loose around her face, now being soaked and the curls were falling out. Before Betsy had the chance to answer Loki's question, he roared with pain. Betsy fixed her eyes upon Clint, jamming a knife into Loki's side, with a look of triumph upon his face.
"Clint! How could you?" Betsy screamed at the archer, who lost his balance while trying to add more pain to his prey. He stepped one foot too far, and fell off the roof, Tony, still watching from the courtyard below, instantly flew up and caught the archer, making him drop his knife.
As Betsy helped Loki onto the balcony, making sure to watch his side where the knife wound cut through his armor.
"Betsy? You stayed?" Loki looked mildly shocked, and quit content with the knowledge she hadn't abandoned him like everyone else had.
"Of course I stayed, I would never leave you! This is my entire fault. If I only had gotten here sooner-" she began.
"No! This is not your fault. You did everything you could. I'm just glad I got to see you one last time." Loki coughed out, spitting up blood in the process.
"Don't talk like that. I'm not going anywhere, wait and see you'll be ok. Everything's going to be ok." She began to let hot tears roll down her checks. The rest of the Avengers had quickly made their way through the palace and were now watching the two from the inside of the ball room. Clint was detained by Thor and was watching with a look between regret and satisfaction.
"I'm just glad I got to see you, one last time." Loki repeated, running his hand through her hair and pushing a lock out of her face. She leaned into his cool touch and let the tears fall when his hand fell on the ground, lifeless.
"No! No! Please don't leave me! Don't go! I need you! Please! I love you." She whispered and cried into the chest of the now dead Loki. Thor and Steve both shared a look of pain and hurt watching their teammate and friend cry over the dead prince's body. Stark, now with the face part of his helmet up, turned towards Clint with a deadly look in his eyes.
"I hope you're happy now. She's miserable, what makes you think she'll ever return with us now uh?" he asked in a deadly tone towards the still detained archer. He showed no look and his expression didn't change, even when Loki died, or when Tony's threatening look stared right into his eyes.
"I did what I had to do." Clint responded, knowing damn well that he shouldn't have stabbed Loki, that was crossing the line.
"You will be trialed here in Asgard for your crimes, Agent Barton. Don't expect Allfather to give a light sentence, even he would be willing to declare war on SHIELD, now that Loki's gone." Thor told the unmoving archer in a deadly glare. Deep down, Clint was scared, he didn't like seeing an angry Thor or Stark, but he was mostly worried about what Betsy would do to him, once she got herself together. As the men turned to watch the weeping Cobra, she was still hugging the dead body, still crying into his shoulder.
Suddenly, snowflakes began to fall from the sky, mixing in with the snow. As the snowflakes continued to rain down from the sky, they began coming in different colors, and becoming more and more sparkly and glittery. As they fell around the body of the prince, and the still crying Cobra, Loki's body began to lift up, forcing Betsy to crawl back and stand up, watching the sight unfold before her eyes.
Loki's body began to change; the rigidness and lines on his face began to fad away, and his skin began to change back into the pale color it was the first time she'd met him. His short Jotunheim hair, began to grow out back to the length it was when he had attempted to conquer Earth. The wound on his side began to heal, and he began to glow green. When he landed again, he was laid down on his face, and as Betsy attempted to step near him, he rose to his feet, absorbing his hands and his arms and then he turned. His eyes were no longer blood red, but now they were the big clear green/blue eyes Betsy remembered seeing when she first laid eyes on the prince.
"Loki?" Betsy asked, stepping shyly towards the transformed demi-god. He still wore his green Asgardian robes.
"Betsy?" He asked, his eyes instantly lighting up when they fell upon her gorgeous face. The two ran towards each other and embraced in a warm hug. As the two pulled their faces back to look at each other, Betsy couldn't help but feel overjoyed at the knowledge that he was back, she hadn't lost him. She had lost too many things in her life to loose the thing she loved the most. So the two continued to stare, until finally Loki closed the distance, and captured her lips in a warm and loving kiss. She instantly returned the lovingness and wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on her tippy toes. He helped her by wrapping his arms around her waist, and lifting her closer and high to him, forcing their chests to collide.
As the two continued their make-out session, the rest of the Avengers watched in silence, letting the two share their moment to themselves. Thor's grip on Clint's shoulder had loosened when Loki had transformed back into his normal appearance, and he had let go of his shoulder entirely when the two had embraced. Now he stood in front of Clint, blocking his view of the couple, but he held the same deadly look in his eyes.
"Just because he's not dead, doesn't change the fact that you killed him." Thor said in a dark voice to the sniper. Clint just bowed his head, looking down at his feet, not wanting to meet the eyes of the still angered and overjoyed Thor. He knew what he had done was wrong, but at the time it had seemed so right.
The couple had finished their make out session, leaving them both panting, and staring at each other with lust filled eyes. Betsy had turned first, to acknowledge her teammates and partner. However when her eyes fell on Clint, they instantly narrowed and became the look of a deadly assassin that she was. She walked away from Loki with a purpose in her stride, and Thor stood aside when she stood in front of her partner and teammate.
"How could you?" she asked to Clint, not caring about anyone else in the room.
"I'm sorry Cobs. I did what I thought was right, I'm sorry I let my anger towards Loki blind me from seeing how much you care for him." He said through gritted teeth. He had a few choice words for the god of mischief, but the fact that he was detained, and she had all her weapons, he thought twice before opening his mouth, a thing he rarely, if ever, did.
"'Sorry'? You're sorry that you came here wanting revenge, on the man that I've come to fall in love with? You're sorry for the fact that you almost killed him! And the real reason why you're 'sorry' is because you want me to return to Earth with you! That's why you're really sorry! The fact that you almost murdered a prince is not easily ignored! I thought we were partners?" she said, letting the last sentence sink in. Clint knew he had made a mistake, she didn't trust people easily, and the fact that he ruined it by stabbing the one she loved, wasn't going to be easy to come back from.
"Cobs, I'm sorry! I don't know what to say! How was I supposed to know you fell in love with…him?" he asked, trying to defend the little honor he had left.
"You might have known if you hadn't attacked him! Did you even try to talk to him? No you didn't! You just assumed the worst! Why can't you guess understand that Loki isn't as bad as you believe?" she asked, still unsure if she could ever fully trust her partner again.
"I don't know what else to tell you Cobs, but I'm sorry for hurting you." He replied, giving her a small smile, which she instantly gave a deadly glare back. That ended their conversation, and they still had to debrief Fury about this whole thing still too.
Just want to say, YES I'm FINALLY DONE WITH THIS SCENE! Sorry if this is a shorter chapter than usually, I want to get out at least one more before Thanksgiving! Btw HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Well I hope y'all are enjoying this series I know I'm having a lot of fun writing it, and I love all the followers and favorites emails I get from yall! Thanks so much! I hope you enjoyed! P.S. sorry to all the Clint fans out there, I sorta made him look like the bad guy, but I promise I'll try to redeem him from this! I just figured he'd want to kill Loki, since he really does. (re-watched the Avengers this weekend so I'm totally freshened up for writing) so sorry bout that, but he'll become a good guy again, and there'll be more moments for all the happy couples! ;)
