„There he is", Barton said, „I just wanna say that I really have to fight the urge to kill him right now. So, don't let me alone with him."
"I feel the same way", Banner said trough clenched teeth.
"Yes, guys, I think we all do, but you heard Thor. We need to be careful. Who knows what he traded our souls for and what his dark voice inside of him is up to? So, I guess it would be wise to hide our anger. Don't you agree?"
They nodded. Natasha was right. And besides, they all had no powers on Asgard and so it was unwise to start a fight with Loki at the moment anyway.
"Uh…He doesn't look so good. Is he sick or something?"
The Avengers were now just a few steps away from the trickster and not just Tony had noticed the terrible state the god was in.
Loki couldn't hide that he was shivering, his eyes were red and swollen and his lips blue from the cold. He lowered his head when they reached him.
He couldn't look them in the eyes.
The fear of losing control over his body was driving him mad.
Concentrate on breathing, he told himself, just breath normally. Relax.
His efforts to calm himself were crippled in an instant, when Thor put a hand on his shoulder.
Loki winced and was definitely close to hyperventilating now.
Inside his head the dark voice was growling.
You're embarrassing! Is that how a future king behaves?
"No", Loki whispered, subdued.
Thor heard his brother mumbling something but couldn't understand it.
So he asked: "Loki? Are you alright? We need that portal now. We have to go back to the palace, Rogers is not well."
Rogers?
Loki stole a glance at the Avengers in front of him and saw that Thor was carrying Rogers.
The others seemed to be fine.
What went wrong?
Hela had promised him, that all five souls would find their bodies without a problem.
"Is he still dead?" Loki asked with such a weakly voice, that he wasn't sure if anyone had heard him at all.
"No, he's alive, but he's in some kind of sleep. He won't wake up, which is why we have to go now."
Thor pressed him to hurry.
He wanted to be back in the safety of the palace, but why?
Only because Rogers had not yet woken up?
What made him so nervous?
It was almost as if he knew.
But how could he?
There is no way Thor knew about the dark voice inside Loki, the one that could decide to take over his body at any time and wreak havoc.
The Avengers life's dangled on a string, did Thor know that?
Of course he knows…He practically tries to force you with his hammer to open up that stupid portal.
"But how would Thor know about you?" Damn! He said that out loud, didn't he?
"Loki! Don't listen to him. I need you to focus! Open up the portal, now!"
Thor wasn't sure that it had been the right decision to admit that he knew about the existence of the dark voice, in this very moment. But maybe the shock would help, or make it all worse. It was a fifty percent chance.
Loki looked at him, puzzled and confused. "How…?"
"I'll tell you all about it, when we are back at the palace. So, please open the portal now."
Hoping that his brother wouldn't lose the fight with the dark one inside him, Thor tried to keep calm. It was hard, though. He knew that the other Loki's plan had been to never ever free the Avengers again. So the fact that his friends had been alive for quite a while now, made him feel on edge. The safety of the palace, where Odin waited for them, was within reach.
"Why are you so eager to go home? Why are you in such a hurry?" Loki asked suspiciously. "Don't you trust me?"
"I trust you, brother! And we need to hurry, because Rogers is not well. Don't you remember the promise you gave him?" To mention Lokis promise was the Thundergods last hope. It had to work.
The promise! Of course Loki remembered. He'd told him that he would make it all better.
He had to keep his promise.
And without hesitation he created the portal that would bring them all back to the palace.
When they stepped through it, Thor was smiling at him, but underneath that smile Loki could see that his brother was still very nervous and concerned.
It mirrored his own feelings and soon he knew at least why he felt like that.
The dark voice hadn't said a thing or interfered when he'd opened the portal.
What was it up to?