"Thor? Thor, what's going on?" Steve persisted in trying to get through to the God of Thunder, the worry within him growing as Thor yelled curse after curse, each desperate and quickly strung together, all sounding like gibberish to Steve. The limp clothes lay on the bed, as if thrown there, confusing Steve further. "Thor! Calm down!" The demi-god looked at Steve, wild-eyed, which only caused further panic to grow in the super soldier. "What is going on." The blue eyes flickered over Steve briefly, before their gaze fell and Thor sighed.
Steve felt a pang of pain, seeing the God of Thunder so shocked, for lack of a better word. Thor was not one to fall easy, mentally and physically, and yet here, after his brother had vanished before his own eyes, like a whisper on the wind, Thor was shaken.
"That was not Loki," he murmured under his breath, a soft tone underlying the fear. "Loki was never with us. Not truly. That was the result of his magic." Thor grasped at his hair, pulling ever so slightly as low moans fell from his mouth. Steve felt his curiosity grow, despite the all-consuming anxiety, and clearly, Thor saw it written in the furrowed brow, in the widened eyes. "What we played host to was the result of carefully weaved words by my brother. Trickery, to some extent, if I know him as well as I believe, but not for malicious intentions.
"Loki was… testing our good will, seeing if anyone cared for him. Though why, I know not." The brief explanation was quickly followed by what Steve was more than certain was another explicit Asgardian curse, and it was merely a cue for more confusion.
"Maybe he- He could've- I don't know… The way he acted though. It was like it was all real, and there wasn't even a spiteful quip or a smirk. Thor, what if it was real?" The god looked towards him, a slight glimmer in his eye, but a fleeting flicker of hope was present. "What if, he used his magic to create that clone? To make us aware when we wouldn't be otherwise? He asked you to promise you would find him, but only if it didn't risk your life."
"Or yours." Thor added, the corners of his mouth twisting upwards from a grimace momentarily. Steve shuffled slightly, not sure how to respond, and still rather shocked at his inclusion from Loki. To be cared for by the God of Mischief, even only slightly, was a feat and an achievement in itself. Loki didn't just give his sentiments away like sweets, though the feeling of being cared for by one renowned for being so cold was incredibly warming.
"Um, yeah. Look, what I'm saying, is what if what he said happened, actually happened. Heck, is still happening? What he made that duplicate to get our attention, primarily, yours, because he needs help, Thor…" The God of Thunder felt his lips part slightly, the feasibility of friend Steve's idea becoming apparent to him, the storm clouds that so tentatively followed him parting, allowing the light through. In this realm, he'd always felt amidst a tempest, never quite understanding anything Midgard presented him with, merely striding with an innocent smile plastered upon his face, denying to himself just how out of place he was here. How the standards of society were different here, and it still stumped Thor more than he was willing to admit.
"Are you implying that my brother may be in danger? That he may still be experiencing whatever atrocities befell him before?" Steve nodded, almost fearfully, anticipating another string of crude Aesir curses, and pleas toward whatever deity deities prayed to. There was a swift, ineligible mutter which parted from his mouth, then Thor turned his face upwards, jaw held strong with determination. "If it is help my brother requires, it is help I shall give him. I refuse to let him sit out there, with a false hope after my agreement to find him. Thor the thunderer is not one to go back on his promises. But I must know, how do you know that the situation is so." Steve remained silent for a moment, tasting the different words in his mouth, seeing which words moulded together best for his desired effect.
"Because it's what I would do." The statement was blunt, and simple, and the meaning simpler still, and yet it caught the God of Thunder, it convinced him.
"Then, friend Steve, we must, as sir Nick says frequently, assemble the Avengers." A dark, twisted smile formed on Steve. He could beat that asshole up twice. What an effective stress reliever that had proved last time. The vengeful gleam was present in his eyes, for one of the few times in his life, and it was then Steve began to question his emotions toward the God of Mischief.
He met eyes, and smiled. A weary, tired smile, but a smile none the less. Holding up a spell of that magnitude was draining for even the strongest of spellcasters, an added pain worth bearing. Because when Mjolnir smashed that skull of the mortal unworthy to even touch a god of such calibre, that would be when everything truly ended. The grudges, the one-sided negativity, the envy, the pain.
The other man twisted his head slightly, such an action as a smile rare in scenarios like this one, a ghost of a frown, twisted by sick desires. Murky eyes burned with hope, an emotion thought lost long ago, stature held tense, bracing for the next blow. But they burned with hope. And something… else. Something that re-ignited the light lost back further than he could remember.
A hand rose, and he smiled, embracing the damned pain he'd lived with for so long now, too long to remember a different way of living. Pain. All-consuming, dragging him to the pits of Hell and back again, and all he could do was smile, as that hand raised in front of the metal eagle, and the sickening familiar acronym. He had hope.
There was hope.
A/N
Don't ever read The Ultimates whilst trying to write a fanfiction. It's an amazing storyline, The Ultimates 2, but the difference in personality for Steve is really distracting. I do recommend you to read it at some point, just not whilst you are trying to write a fanfiction. Anyway, I think Fire and Ice – Within Temptation compliments this chapter nice. Thank you for all the kind reviews, again. I am incredibly grateful for it.