Chapter 21

"Where is she?" Thor demanded, striding into the lab with Mjolnir clutched tightly in his hand, his voice echoing like the thunder he controlled.

Maria was gone.

He'd returned to her room, expecting to find her there, either still asleep or waiting for him – it'd been neither, the room completely empty of human presence. At that point, he hadn't been that bothered, still certain he'd find her. The bed had been made and her folded night clothes on the pillow told him she had been well enough to rise and dress of her own accord, that no foul play had contributed to her absence.

He'd checked his room next, in case she'd gone searching for him. Nothing. Running on the same 'Maria might be looking for him' string had led him to the training facilities next, then the meeting rooms, then the front control centre of the vessel.

Nothing.

Maria had been nowhere to be found.

Then Thor had started getting anxious, knowing full well he should have found her by then, if not just glimpsing her from his long stalking of the corridors.

The lab had been his last hope before he'd surrendered to his absolute irritation, Marias significant lack of presence playing on his impatient temper. He wasn't mad at Maria herself, he was simply mad. Perhaps he still had Loki's taunts echoing in his mind: she will abandon you, his brother had said. It hadn't even been a day and yet his brothers words were starting to look painfully accurate. He'd just been cursing S.H.I.E.L.D's ludicrous lack of security, thinking they ought to keep better track of someone as vital as Maria was, when he strode into the Maria-less laboratory of superheroes, teeth gritted with enraged frustration.

All eyes flew to Stark instantly, knowing that he was the only one brave - or stupid - enough not to even remotely fear the God in this agitated, hammer wielding state. "Alright Thunder Boy." Stark calmly greeted, his face retaining a stiff blankness that Thor only found more infuriating. "Quite the storm last night. Sounded like someone got a little something in the bedroom-"

Thor closed the gap in a few short strides, almost nose to nose with Stark as he glared at the genius. "My patience is already on a tether, mortal. I am in no mood for your games." He growled. "Where is Maria?"

Stark ran his eyes up and down the god's dangerous form, Thor noted, uncaringly. "How should I know?" he shrugged. "You're the one who bedded her, not me. Sure you didn't bolt her back down to Earth, or teleport her off to some alien world or something?"

Mjolnir instinctively rose a few inches before Thor stopped himself, the muscles in his arm trembling from the effort. He clamped his jaw down tightly, not trusting himself to speak yet as he collected his thoughts, trying to scrape back some of his rationality. He was a lot better at that when Maria was around to help him.

Finally, he shuddered out a relatively anger-free breath. Well, anger-free enough not to have hit Stark yet.

"I have warned you before about speaking so disrespectfully about Maria, and do not like having to repeat myself." He half snarled at Stark, clinging to his patience. "Secondly, what occurs between Maria and myself in private is none of your concern and I do not appreciate you talking about her in such a lowly, degrading form. Thirdly," his hand was trembling again. "Tell me where she is or I shall destroy every last one of these monitors until you do."

That caught Stark's attention.

"I don't know!" he blurted with slightly wide eyes, casting aside his sarcasm for the first time now that his precious technology had been threatened. His arm threw to the side, pointing to the wall. "I saw her running that way but I don't know where she was going!"

"She was asking about Loki." Rogers cut in quickly, as Thor's hammer rose in the air. He may not like the genius but he had to admit that Stark getting his face bashed in would be detrimental to progress on locating the Tesseract.

Thor froze, shooting his gaze to the Captain. "What?"

Rogers fought the urge to stumble back, the god's gaze like daggers. "She asked me where he was being kept, but she said it was so she could avoid him." He explained quickly as Thor took a step away from Stark, fearing himself to be the next target.

He needn't have worried: Thor's anger seemed to drain from him as quickly as the colour did from his face. His eyes were suddenly wide. "And you told her?" A remaining stab of anger shot through his crystal blue orbs, but it was quickly drowned out with glistening blind concern before his body could react to it. Dread flooded through his system icily.

Maria had gone to see Loki.

That was all he needed to know; Thor ran from the room with everything he had, tearing down the corridors, ignorant of anyone in his path. His mind was clotted with panic. Never mind the fact that Loki was a pure danger to Maria, but what would he tell her? Thor would have been much more careful with his words had he known that barely a day after he'd revealed them, as much to himself as to Loki, they might be repeated to Maria. It wasn't that he never wanted her to know his feelings... just not yet. And most certainly not like this.

His hand half ground the security panel into the wall in his haste to get inside the chamber that concealed his brother. Finally the door slid open - and Maria collapsed back into his arms.

Mjolnir hit the floor instantly.

"Maria!" The God only had senses for the woman that trembled violently in his arms, eyes wide and fearfully staring still within the chamber. Thor followed her panicked, whimpering gaze; Loki was on the end of it. He glared across the chamber at his trickster of a brother, fingers gently scooping back Maria's hair from her face, clinging slightly with the thin sheen of sweat that coated her skin. "What did you do to her?" Thor growled deadlily as he sunk down to his knees, crouching with Maria's shoulders convulsing over his thigh.

Loki merely smirked, eyes glinting a vicious shade even from the distance between them. "I did nothing but tell her the truth."

Thor's venomous glare could cut through the particles in the air but Loki didn't even blink, the God of Mischief immune to the harshness he regularly dished out. Thor didn't care. He really didn't anymore; he was much more concerned with Maria and the way she didn't seem to recognise anyone and anything other than Loki, across the room in his transparent prison. He slid her body back along the floor, and the door hissed shut, breaking the connection.

Strangled sobs started to break from her lips as her body squirmed. Thor's hands found the sides of her face, holding it firmly still as the rest of her panicked, forcing her to look into his eyes. He watched his crystal blue orbs slowly ease the overwhelming fear that consumed her, staring patiently until something inside her connected with him and her eyes slowly swirled back into a solid brown. A few more harsh, ragged breaths tore at her chest before they started to steady. Thor waited patiently, one hand cupping her cheek while the other rested under the small of her back, supporting her still slightly trembling body as she started to curl into his. It felt like a lifetime before the tension finally melted from her muscles and she slumped against him, burying her tear streaked face into his chest.

Gently, Thor eased her further up his body till her trembling lips were before his instead of against his breast-plate. "Maria." He breathed, leaning his forehead against hers, completely ignoring the agents that pooled around them, concerns arisen by the state of the figure hauled from the prisoner's chamber.

"H-he's going to kill me, Thor." Maria's unnervingly shaky voice shuddered. "I'm really going to die. He's going to kill me – I – I can't stop it. Oh God…"

Thor watched with growing concern as Maria's eyes started to cloud again, succumbing back to the senselessness of panic.

His hand at her cheek firmed. "Maria, look at me." He ordered, trying to balance his tone between gentle and commanding. It worked well enough to swirl Maria's fear widened eyes back to his. "I won't let that happen. I would rather die than let him hurt you. He's locked away. He cannot escape. You are safe."

"He'll get out." She breathed back instantly. "He's too good. He'll get out and he'll come and kill me." The tears started to pool. "He said it himself! He wants me dead-"

Thor pushed his mouth hard against hers before her quivering lip could escalate into something more potent. He stood quickly and strode fast from the corridor, eager to have the attention of the agents directed elsewhere: the last thing Maria needed right now was an audience. Thor carried her straight to where he knew his room to be even though he hadn't so much as stepped inside of it once. The only night so far on the vessel had been spent in Maria's, with his arms folded over her gentle body as they'd slept together. He half wished they'd never woken up. He kicked the door shut and settled Maria down on the untouched sheets of his bed, crouching down on one knee beside it so they were as good as eye level.

Maria hiccupped back the last of her tears as Thor slowly pulled back his lips, thumb stroking soothingly into her cheek bone.

Her eyes glistened into his. "I'm scared." Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

Thor smoothly angled her head down slightly and placed tender kisses where her tears had fallen, feeling the roughness of her skin beneath his lips. Her eyes screwed shut, fighting a fresh wave of anguish. He kissed her eyelids until they eased.

"As am I." he finally confessed, his chest tightening. "Nothing terrifies me more than the thought of losing you."

"I can't do this." Maria's body gave a noticeable shudder against his. "I can't just wait for him to kill me. I can't. I'll go mad." Her hands trailed up between them and she dropped her face to her palms. "I can't do this, Thor! You should've just let Jason shoot me when he had the chance."

Thor's hand shot to her wrist, tugging at down with as much gentleness as he could muster with the fire coursing through his blood. He fought the urge to grit his teeth at the memory of the shooting. "Don't say such things." He growled, crushing his mouth to hers to settle his raging heart. He hated thinking of Maria's brother and all the pain she had suffered under his hand. "I could not bear it if anything happened to you."

"You won't have a choice." She gasped, as he released her mouth for air. "Loki's going to kill me and you can't stop him. No one can. A bullet would have been so much quicker than what he's gonna do to me. So much easier."

Thor felt his control slipping. Didn't she know how deep such mere thoughts cut into him? He loathed to think of so much as a bruise blemishing her perfect form – painfully aware of those he'd inflicted himself the night before. To hear her talking so rationally – so longingly – about her death like she did… it simply tore him apart. He didn't even want to think about what that would do to him if she were no longer there. No more slender body to hold. No more soft lips to kiss as he pleased. No more of her womanly spirit to wrestle wills with in a battle of stubbornness. No… his life would seem empty without her. In just a short month, she had become his everything.

Finally, he pulled her hands back to her sides and replaced them on her cheeks with his, pulling her nearer to him till their lips were a hairs-breath away from each other's. He couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Listen to me." He sighed, breathing in the air that left her lips. Her eyes fluttered, as if she wanted to look away. No, Thor growled in his chest, her would not let her go until she heard him out. "Whatever happens, I'm with you. I will never leave you alone, whether it be in life or death. I will gladly follow. I love you too much to let you go."

He flickered his gaze firmly upwards as he heard the breath hitch in her chest: Maria's glowing brown eyes gleamed at him. Thor found it the most endearing thing he'd ever seen, her soft orbs a slick combination of hope, disbelief and fear. He could practically hear the 'did I hear that right?' that he knew to be racing through her mind. His lips flickered into the most loving smile he'd ever worn as he pressed his lips tenderly against Maria's slightly gaping mouth. He'd gladly say it again. He'd happily set her mind at rest that she had heard him correctly if it meant he could declare his love for the wonderful woman in front of him all over again.

He held her eyes easily, brimming with pure adoration. The easiest smile he'd ever worn spread across his lips. "I love you Maria Sorin. And that is never going to change."

Thor watched happily the slideshow of emotions that flickered through Maria's eyes, heart thudding eagerly in his chest as a glittering glow eventually gleamed from her brown orbs. The corners of her lips flickered up in a grin. Thor didn't dare say anything, not wanting to ruin the moment for the world.

He was glad he hadn't; no sooner had Maria's smile grown to mirror his than she threw herself at him, arms flung around his neck as she crashed her mouth on his. Thor fell back hard against the floor, caught so off guard, but he was so not complaining as Maria kissed him hard and urgently, his hand resting at the small of her back to hold her there. He didn't think he'd ever manage to let her go, grinning against her mouth, the kiss sending his heart rate sky rocketing.

Then the explosion ripped through the Helicarrier and tore them apart.