Authors' Note:
So. Three chapters in one day. You're welcome! By the way, we were a little disappointed that our previous question wasn't answered by our faithful reviewers! Go back to chapter 10 and re-read the last note. And please answer :) We need to know about our deleted scenes! Well, in other news, we felt awesomely creative today so y'all were endowed with three new chapters! And the fact that we couldn't just leave Loki's situation the way it was...too sad... So enjoy the happy conclusion to the previous two chapters!
-DeadMan'sHand702 & J3ntheninja
Just A Kiss
Loki doesn't show up for the rest of the day, and all the adults are in a deep conference about this new (and pretty scary, if you ask me) development. So I take advantage of my unsupervised time to go down to Daddy's lab and continue what I'd begun last night.
I hadn't really gotten to do much on my idea, but I had chosen the smallest suit I could find. After all, it is going to be much easier to learn how to pilot one of Daddy's old Iron Man suits if it at least somewhat fits me.
The suit doesn't fit completely, but it's close enough. Besides, all I want to do is practice. I have the feeling that, with the way things are going right now, we'd need all the help we could get. I move over to the metal testing plate. I need to work on my flight because without it, I'm basically a sitting duck. Which the team does not need. They need help.
"Power one percent," I inform Jarvis.
"Yes, ma'am," he responds.
"Okay. On three. One... Two... Three!" I take the position and the thrusters lift me off the floor. I hover above the metal plate for a good twenty seconds before killing the power. I land on my feet, unharmed. Well, that went better than expected. I look over at Dummy, a robot of my fathers with a fire extinguisher attached for a head.
"No! Bad boy!" I yell at him. He lowers his head as if sad.
"Bring it up to five percent," I say.
"Ma'am, I don't think-"
"Jarvis, I said bring it up to five percent."
"Yes, ma'am."
Once again I count. And once again, the thrusters perform up to par. Great! What next? Twenty? No, too dangerous. Umm... fifteen? That's a good number.
"Fifteen percent," I say. Jarvis obliges, giving up on talking me down. I count. On three my feet leave the plate, but unlike the last two time, they do not stay under me. Instead, I flip- moving toward the ceiling. I scream in surprise.
I move my arms trying to regain balance, and trying to get upright. I just want to be upright! I remember Dad showing me a way to balance. Moving my arms out is my best option. But- like everything in the past few days- none of it goes as planned. My left hand's thruster brushes against my right arm in an attempt to turn.
The power dies at this perfect moment, sending me plummeting down towards the metal plate. Somehow I end up uninjured in the landing, but the red hot metal on my skin starts to burn.
"Get me out of this thing!" I cry. White smoke envelops me in a cloud cooling the metal, but not before the damage is done. I turn to Dummy. He had done his job, but not quick enough. We should have donated him when we had the chance.
The robotic arms remove the suit from my body. Once out of it I look down at my wrist. A rather large section of what used to be tan flesh is now an irritated pink color. The color quickly starts to change into an ugly light orange and I know it's bad.
"Jarvis!"
I suddenly remember what day it is. Wow. What a great birthday present.
I silently walk down the hallway of the top floor of Stark Tower, looking for Thor. I'm worried about him. This morning- well, I'd heard about it from Pepper and from what I'd heard, my god of thunder should be pretty upset. I turn into another messy room, see the bow and arrows on the bed, and decide it's Clint's. Ugh. Why are men so...so messy? I sigh and keep walking down the hallway. I find Thor in the next bedroom over, sitting on his bed and staring at his hammer. I go over to him and sit next to him, putting my arm around his shoulders. Of course, it doesn't reach so I have to settle for patting the center of his back like a mother.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I ask gently. His head nods once and then he turns to face me. What I see written in his eyes stuns me. Thor, the god of thunder, is crying. Abandoning my previous caution I throw my arms around him. He puts a huge hand on my back and squeezes me tight.
"Oh, Thor," I get out. "What's gone so wrong?" It must have been worse than Pepper said, for Thor to cry.
"Loki...he has received all his old memories." His voice is strained and nearly cracks. It makes me want to cry.
"I'm sure everything will be fine," I say, trying to comfort him. He shakes his head.
"He was extremely upset, Jane," Thor replies. "He ran from us."
"Oh, Thor, he was scared of you. Put yourself in his position. You would be terrified that you would slip into your old ways and hurt everyone close to you again. Add that to the frankly alarming description Pepper gave me of the monster you saw and that was surely why he ran."
"He thought himself the monster."
"He had every reason to. What he needs is for you to be there, to tell him you still believe in him and love him. He needs you."
Thor considers this for a moment. "What if the others do not concur? What if they believe he has not changed?"
I bite my lip. "Then you'll have to be there for him."
Thor nods and scrubs his hand across his eyes. "I shall be with him to the death and beyond if necessary."
The brotherly love in his eyes and tone nearly breaks my heart.
"I just hope he is aware of that."
I put my head on his shoulder. "I'm sure he will, Thor. I'm sure he will."
After the afternoon's pretty disastrous flight test, I walk back up to my room to get some rest. As I flip my laptop open I realize I'd left my flash drive down in the training room. The one with all of our training scenarios on it. Bit Not Good. I quickly close my computer and hurry downstairs in the elevator. I reach the training room and slowly open the doors, getting the feeling that I am disturbing something. But all the adults are upstairs, Verusha's in her room, and Loki- who knows where he is. It's probably just an aftereffect from this morning. I swing the doors wide and make my way around the viewing area and climb the stairs to the control room. I find the offending flash drive, scowl at it, and place it in my pocket. As I descend the stairs, though, I hear a soft noise- almost as if someone's crying. Cautiously, I peer around the doorway of the stairs and look out onto the training floor. A blue form is kneeling on the floor, head in hands, sobbing. There's only one blue person I know. He must have come back down here, not knowing where to run.
I walk to the door that leads out to the combat floor silently. The door, however, is not obliging. It creaks loudly as I open it. Loki whips his head around. His eyes are still red. I steel myself and walk over to the boy.
"I told you to stay away," he says, sounding completely miserable. "I'm the monster mothers tell their children about. You don't want to be anywhere near me."
I advance across the floor, half-afraid that he'll turn and run away again. "You're dumber than I thought if you believe that I'd ever leave you alone," I say gently but firmly. "Remember when we told each other our greatest fears?"
He nods.
"Remember when you said we can not be alone together?"
His head drops into his hands again. "That was before-"
"Shh. I don't wanna hear it. I'll stand by you, now and always."
He looks up at me, eyes wide in amazement. "You..." he trails off, not able to put his feelings into words. I simply reach my hand out to him. He reaches up to me slowly as if in a dream. Our hands meet, and slowly, ever so slowly, his skin begins to fade into its normal color. We both stare at his changing skin in astonishment. I look up to meet his eyes just as they turn back into the brilliant green I have come to know and love. I gently pull him to his feet.
"Come with me," I say. "I've got something to show you."
I sigh for what seems like the millionth time in an hour. Why would he just run? He knows that we love him. Why did he run? We could have helped him. Poor Loki. I need to find him. I just wish I knew where he is. A steaming cup of coffee is set in front of me on the table and a comforting hand is placed on my shoulder. I look up to see Pepper standing there.
"You want to talk about it?" she asks. I nod and she takes the seat next to me. She looks at me, waiting for me to start.
"Why would he run?" I ask. It's the question that has haunted me for the past hour or so.
"He was scared, Steve. What did you really expect him to do?" she responds.
"I don't know. I was hoping he would stay," I say, looking down at the ground.
"Steve, did you really expect him to stay when he got his memories back? I mean, he realizes what he did, and I think he's afraid it might happen again."
"It won't! I raised him better! He knows that we will never turn on him," I say.
"Does he?" she asks.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"I mean does he know that the team won't turn on him?"
"Of course he does."
"Steve, after all the things he did in the past. Do you really expect him to believe that Clint won't turn on him? Or Natasha? What about Tony? Banner? Maybe you won't but will the others?"
She has a point. I mean the old Loki did turn Clint against us all. Poor Loki. He's probably so scared right now and he doesn't have anyone to tell him that it's all going to be okay. What am I going to do?
"Loki is going to come back, Steve."
"How do you know?" I ask looking into her bright eyes.
"Because he knows you love him, and he wouldn't leave without trying to make things right, don't you think?" I nod.
"I should be looking for him, Pepper. I need to find him. I need to tell him that it's okay. That... That the past doesn't matter."
"Just give him some time. He needs to work through some things. Give him the space he needs, but also let him know that you are there. That's what he really needs right now."
I nod again. Pepper is right. Loki does need some time alone, but he also needs to know that I'm here for him. Even if the others aren't.
As Alex pulls me out of the training room, my brain is in a whirl. What just happened back there? She was able to change my skin back to normal. That is perhaps the most confusing thing of all. From what I've gathered from my old memories, I should have been in complete control of my form, and no one- least of all a human- should have been able to make me change. But that seems insignificant to the wealth of horrible memories that have all come back to me in the last seven hours.
Apparently I'd had another childhood, on Asgard, and Thor was my brother. Who was always better than me. And...then I'd learned I was really adopted, which explained why Odin always loved Thor best, and the hurt festered inside me until I finally acted on it and tried to destroy Jotunheim. Then...I dimly remember letting go of Thor's hand and falling into the broken Bifrost and landing on the surface of a realm that I'd never been to. There I met Thanos, The Destroyer. Well, I say met. I never really talked to him or even saw his face, just his messenger, but all the same he informed me that he could endow me with new powers such that I could conquer Midgard and finally step out from my brother's shadow. He gave me the simple task of obtaining the Tesseract for him on my way of conquering, and I'd thought it easy enough. Well, until I met the Avengers. My...parents now, and uncles, and the parents of my new sister and of Alex. They stopped me and saved Midgard- Earth. I'd done terrible things before that, though. Unspeakable things. I'd even used my spear to control Ace's father. I really doubt she'll just forget that and waltz off without giving it a second thought. No, I'm still going to have to make things right with her. Because I do- I do want to fix everything I've done. I just...don't think anyone will believe me given my history. I have no idea how to go about convincing them of that, so I just let Alex lead me along.
We've come out of the Tower by now, and are walking in a small park in central New York. It is late, and the city's lights make the green park sparkle with a diamond-like glow as we walk along a set path in silence.
I don't know what it is about tonight, but just being here with her and knowing she- at least- will never leave me, makes my heart skip a beat. I steal a quick glance over at her only to find her looking back at me.
"What?" I ask.
She looks away quickly, but says nothing.
"Alex..."
"This way," she says pointing into a thick pack of trees. I look at the way she is pointing then back to her in disbelief. What does she see that I don't? "Trust me." She holds out her hand and gives me a real smile, not one of her smirks or teasing laughs. I decide to trust her, and take her hand. We disappear into the trees.
She holds my hand tight as we push our way through until we come to a clearing. There is a central tree with pink blooms, but that is it. The tree is surrounded by grass, but there are no other trees anywhere around this one. The lights from the city have faded away to a dim glow, lending the small clearing more magic than is in Odin's treasury.
"What is this place?" I ask. She walks until she's under the canopy of the great tree.
"My dad used to bring me out here when I was little. He said it was a magical place, and when everyone else in the world is against you, you will always have this place," she smiles.
Looking around this place, it seems like she's right. The world doesn't seem to care about it, simply passing it up and never pausing to look inside. It's just me and her.
I don't know what to say at this point so I just walk over and take her in my arms. Her arms snake around my waist as her head comes to rests on my chest. The world falls away as we stand there in each other's arms. She looks up at me at that moment. I don't know what comes over me then, but it is powerful. It's foreign to me. I've never felt anything so...so...happy. It feels almost like I'm a little kid again, wrapped in the all-encompassing embrace of my mother, or racing Thor (back when he was my brother) up to the gates of the palace and not being hurt when he won. Then I get it. It's love. Pure, untarnished, love. Oh, how I miss it.
All rational thought abandons me. I've done so many uncharacteristic things today I don't think adding another one to the list will hurt. So I lean down, touching my lips to hers. She's stunned, but only momentarily. She kisses back gently. I smile under the kiss, pleased. Pulling her tighter against me, I deepen the kiss. Her sweet lips oblige. When she starts to sway in my arms, I place a hand on the small of her back, supporting her. Her arms move from my waist to around my neck, pulling me closer. Afraid of going too far, I pull away a moment later. My hand goes down to hold hers, but my right hand brushes a rough patch on her wrist and she winces in pain. Concerned, I take her wrist in my hand, careful to avoid the rough patch, and bring it up to the light. A large burn rests squarely on it. I look up into her eyes.
"Alex, what happened?" I ask.
"Oh, nothing," she replies. She's lying.
"Alex, please. Tell me what happened? Did someone hurt you? Did the fake Fury do anything else to you?"
"No! It's nothing like that," she says trying to reassure me. It's not working.
"Alex-"
"Loki, really. It's nothing," she repeats. I decide not to pry any further. I just nod.
That same smile comes back to rest on her pink lips. I smile back, glad she's happy.
"Our secret?" I ask, still afraid of her father trying to kill me. And the whole team, for that matter, but that doesn't seem important right now.
She kisses my lips lightly.
"Our secret."
The elaborate golden throne holds a very, very old man. His royal clothes and pure gold eyepatch speak of his kingly position, but the lines around his eyes and mouth speak of a worried father. He can feel the pulse from Midgard as the charm he had so carefully placed on Loki's mind is broken, and brings his head down in silent remorse at what his youngest son must be going through right now. But one good thing has come of all this. He now knows who he faces.
There is a name no one speaks, whispers of a power greater than the All-Father's. And those whispers do indeed have a name. Thanos. The Destroyer. The ruler of Asgard had never thought of these whispers as having any real substance, simply old wives' tales, but the events of the past month have proven him wrong. He calls for his servant, dispatching a message to the commander-in-chief of the Asgardian forces. The man comes within the hour.
"Yes, my liege?"
The All-Father stands up, leaning heavily on his staff.
"Ready the armies. I fear we shall be needed on Midgard."