Sorry it has been so long! I have been out of the country for four weeks now and just got back home! I hope everyone is having a fantastic summer! The next chapter will be up soon after this! Enjoy (:
Melanie walks slowly down a fluorescent lighted hallway, a bunch of flowers gripped tightly in her small, soft hands. She was trying very hard to hold back the tears that fought their way to the lower rims of her eyes, but she knew the fight wouldn't go on for long.
At the end of the hallway she enters into a small room where a man lies, a breathing apparatus strapped onto his face, and a monitor beeping softly in the background.
She replaces the old flowers with the new ones she brought in a vase on the table next to the bed. Pulling up a chair, she rests her hand on top of his and squeezes lightly, forcing a smile on her face.
"I hope you're late because you were training," the man says in a hoarse, muffled whisper.
She looks down, still smiling. "Well it's kind of a funny story actually. You wouldn't believe how insistent the guy I was buying flowers from was to get my picture. And after I finally said yes he wanted autographs for all nine of his kids! So instead of wasting more time I just gave him my address and told him to mail me the pictures and I would sign them."
"I wouldn't say that was wasting your time," he says softly, his eyes warm with happiness. "After all, my 'lil sis is a celebrity now, and you'll have to get used to that."
She chuckled softly. "I suppose."
They were both silent for a while as she listened to his painful breaths in and out of the mask across his mouth and nose.
"How's Mike and Charlie?" he asks after a few minutes.
"Just fine. Charlie's first day of school was yesterday. Which reminds me, I brought something for you. Charlie made it today, in class. He wanted to come see you today."
Melanie pulls out a piece of paper from her purse. The piece of paper has a drawing on it of Mike, Charlie, Melanie, and Jame. They were all holding hands and smiling.
As Jame holds it in his hands he begins to cry softly, the tears streaming down his cheeks, painting lines across his flushed face.
"Tell him... thank you," he sighs with happiness.
Melanie nods, her own tears beginning to spill down her cheeks.
"I know I don't have much time," Jame starts, but Melanie quickly cuts him off.
"Shh, don't say a word about it. Remember we are taking this day by day, and there is no room for you getting all sappy with me."
She tries to sound firm, but her voice cracks and shakes as she speaks. He sighs sadly.
"Mel-"
"Nope."
"Do you still have that necklace we found? You know the one that was underground?"
Melanie feels a slight shiver down her spine. The necklace that cursed her. The necklace that gave her the powers that everyone was trying to acquire. Jame didn't even know about it. Only Mike did, and only because he was the one that found her in the bathtub, her veins shining bright blue and the shower curtain burning.
"Yeah, I still have it," she whispers hoarsely.
He smiles, closing his eyes. "Keep it forever, for me, to remember me...will you?"
She squeezes his hand. "Of course I will. Anything for you, Jame."
Melanie wakes with a start, her fist enclosed over the necklace orb. She sits up slowly, wincing as the familiar pain streaked across her shoulder. Had it gotten worse? Had it spread? She hadn't used her powers ever since the day she blasted Loki and whatever that giant thing was half to hell. She released the emblem from her tight grip and placed her hand across her aching chest. She could feel the rigidness of the veins that were risen from the skin.
Climbing out of bed carefully, she searched for some clean clothes and changed as quickly as she could. She made her way downstairs, careful to be silent while passing Loki's room -no doubt he was still fast asleep- and searched with her hands for the coffee pot. While she managed herself ok, acquiring a walking stick would really make moving around a lot easier. Sadly though, her only one was burned down with ship and the rest of her friends when she was kidnapped.
A strangled gasp suddenly echoed through the kitchen, and it took her a moment to realize it was her own. Had she been so foolish to forget about SHIELD and all her friends that died while she was here, making out with the enemy? How stupid! What was she thinking?
What were you thinking, my dear Melanie?
The voice! It was back! No!
Go away! She thinks harshly, holding her head tightly.
No, I'm stuck here. I'm stuck in your head, trapped, like a prisoner. And why push me out? I'm trying to help you.
No, all you do is cause pain and grief. You would of had me kill Natasha! And she was one of my only friends!
Don't forget at that time Natasha was trying to kill you. But she couldn't could she? No, because I was there to get you out of it.
But now she's dead! Because of me! And the rest of them...
Hey, I tried, but you shut me out.
Stop talking to me.
I can't. I only say what you want me to say.
What? You're lying!
She waits for a response but there is none. After a moment of silence, she lets all the air out that she had trapped in her lungs. Shaking, she removes her hands from her head and places them firmly on the counter.
"I'm going crazy," she whispers out loud, another sharp pang shooting through her shoulder.
Leaving the empty coffee pot, Melanie stumbles blindly out of the door and into the heat of the morning sun. The birds chirp softly and she can hear the soft neighs from the horses inside the nearby barn. She stands for a moment, taking deep breaths, trying to clear her mind. After a while it works, and she feels somewhat normal again.
You're really going to need to find a walking stick.
"Damnit!" she spits angrily as suddenly the tears begin pouring down her cheeks.
She puts a hand across her forehead, struggling to control the tears that seemed to never stop flowing.
The door behind her squeaks open and closed, followed by the sound of booted footsteps down the short flight of stairs. She knew who it was before he spoke.
"Out enjoying the morning sun?" he says warmly, with a hint of a smirk.
She shakes her head, quickly covering her eyes in attempt to hide the tears. "I don't want to talk right now."
"Whatever is the matter?" he laughs lightly.
"Just go away," she growls, wiping the tears quickly off her cheeks.
"No."
Grunting, she begins to walk forward to move away from him, but because of the lack of vision, she didn't see the chair placed right in front of her. Her foot catches on it's leg and she goes flying forward with a squeal. Before she can hit the ground, strong hands grip her shoulders and pull her back up right.
"Get off me! I don't need your help!" she yells as he tightens his grip on her shoulders.
He sighs impatiently. "Melanie."
She struggles helplessly against him.
"Melanie stop. You're being ridiculous."
"You stop!" she yells, finally pulling away from him. "Murderer!"
This stops him short.
She heaves a sigh in exasperation. "In this time I have spent in your imprisonment, I have found myself to have grown so utterly foolish as to forget that because of me, because of who I am, all of my friends are dead. Every single person that helped me through my time of need is dead. Fury, Natasha, Clint, Anthony, Steve, all of them!"
Her hands clench into fists as she presses them on either side of her head.
Use our power! Kill him!
Shut up! SHUT UP!
"So I'm stuck here with you, as your prisoner because you won't kill me, even though I refuse to join your side with Thanos, unable to even walk three feet outside before tripping-"
She can't finish, and she feels his cold fingers wrap around her wrists, pulling her fists away from her head.
"Melanie," he laughs quietly, "Your friends aren't dead. They all survived."
That's impossible. He's lying.
"What? How?"
"I don't know how exactly. All I know is that your Director Fury has been using all of his resources trying to find you."
She gasps in excitement. "You mean, they're all still alive? And looking for me?"
She's so excited that it almost hurts Loki. She was excited to leave him. But what was he thinking? Of course she wanted to leave him. He was holding her captive, he who still killed thousands of SHEILD agents, he who allowed Thanos to beat her, he who was so cruel to her in the caves. The hurt he felt suddenly disappeared.
"Of course they aren't now."
She frowns. "Why not?"
"Because they think you're dead. When HYDRA destroyed the caves they automatically assumed you and I had been crushed beneath the rocks."
He puts a comforting hand on her shoulder. But it sparks a strange sensation in her chest. She lets out a whine as she falls forward weakly into him.
"Melanie?"
A sharp pang, sharper then ever before, rips through her shoulder. Though as soon as it happens its gone.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just hungry."
"Let me help you back inside."
"Yes, but what would help most is if I had a walking stick."
"Perhaps I should look into getting one for you, so you can walk away from me without tripping over chairs," he says in a mocking tone.
She laughs, throwing her head back. "You're one unpredictable God, you know that?"
"Hmm, that's how I like to be."
"She's almost cracked, Loki. You've done an excellent job getting her to open up. Soon she won't be able to resist you, and she will help you obtain your most desired dream. Earth, and all of it's mortal slaves."
Loki smiles in agreement as he stands before Thanos in a large, darkened room. It was a dream of course. Thanos had sucked him in to check up on how things were going. The power of the tesseract still coursed through his veins.
"You may even wish to take her as your queen. You two would make a powerful pair. Practically invincible if you ask me."
"I know exactly what I am doing. Only a few more weeks and I'll have her. You can send Makelith down and we shall take the Earth in a matter of days."
Thanos laughs as he sits on a large throne, his power felt all around the room.
"Only two weeks, small king. I will send Makelith whether you are ready or not. And if the mortal isn't ready. Kill her."
Loki nods, slightly irritated by the nickname of "small king". The world is sucked out and around him, until he finds himself sitting on his bed, alone in the dark of the night.
They hadn't done much that day. He had lead her out to the barn and showed her where the feed and hay was so that she could begin her work tomorrow. They'd had an argument about him doing work too, but he was a God, not a peasant, and he would not be doing a stable man's job. She had scoffed at him, but he swore to get her a walking stick in compromise, and luckily it made her stop arguing about it. However he felt as though she was still upset with him.
"Agree to disagree," he had suggested when he was fed up with arguing about it.
Everything would be easier if she was able to see.
And then he got the idea.
He could heal her. He could give her her sight back. But would she let him? Her eyes were wounded by the explosion. If he saved up his energy, he could do it.
He stands up and quietly makes his way down the hall to the edge of her doorway. The door was open, and he could see her still form laying in the small bed. Her breaths were long and even, and it oddly comforted him. He thought of his recent conversation with Thanos. She was cracking. He could see it in her body language, he could almost feel her losing control when he grabbed her arms. And maybe, perhaps, making her fall in love with him was cruel, but it had to be done. If this was the only way of making her see sense, if this was the only way of saving her, he would do it.
"Are you sneaking in my room to kill me?" she murmurs, her voice filled with sleep.
He chuckles. "My apologizes. I just enjoy watching you sleep."
"That's creepy."
"Again, I apologize. I just needed to think, and your peacefulness calmed my thoughts."
She groaned. "Just go to bed."
"As you wish."
He turns and walks glumly back to his room.