Chapter 6 – A Time to Heal

DISCLAIMER: We do not own Marvel... unfortunately... xD

Author's Note: Welp! I'm practically done writing chapter 10, so you don't have to worry about another six or so month long hiatus any time in the near future. Lol.

~ Amina Gila


Thor feels a wave of relief crash into him when the portal overhead shrinks and closes, chopping off the head of another Leviathan which had been coming through. The Chitauri forces still remaining are not massive, so it shouldn't take them long to destroy them. "Loki," Thor calls, deciding to try and test the strange Midgardian technology which the others have been using.

Silence greets his call; well, not silence per se, because he can still hear the fighting from the other ends, but his brother doesn't answer. "He's out," Barton informs him, sounding breathless. "He took out the device somehow and collapsed." An explosion echoes through the connection from somewhere. "I could use some help up here!" he calls. "They're all over me."

"Coming!" Thor replies spinning Mjolnir and flying towards the tower where Loki is. Nothing will happen to his brother. Not if he can help it. He summons lightning, electrocuting the Chitauri who are swarming towards the roof, landing heavily near Barton. The roof seems to have been damaged by an explosion of some sort, the device nothing more than a twisted pile of melted metal.

Loki is laying on the roof, face ashen, fingers curled tightly around the Tesseract. It takes a moment for Thor to realize that he's still breathing. Hurling Mjolnir towards three incoming Chitauri, Thor kneels next to Loki's prone form calling his hammer back and setting it next to him. The immediate threat has been neutralized, and he needs to check on his brother. He searches for a pulse, Loki's skin unusually cool to the touch. His heart is racing far too quickly, and that's when Thor realizes that he seems to be glowing a faint blue, similar in color to the Tesseract. What did his brother do?

He doesn't actually have time to answer that question. Instead, he pries the Tesseract out of Loki's grip, carefully setting it next to them. Someone needs to take it and the scepter to a safe place where no one can steal them. Theoretically, Thor could take them – and Loki – back to Asgard so his brother can receive medical attention, but he doesn't want to leave until the realm is safe and he's bid farewell.

"Loki!" calls Thor, shaking his brother slightly, hoping to receive some sort of response. Loki doesn't even stir. "Brother, wake up!" Still nothing. "We need to move him elsewhere," he decides, looking up.

Barton is watching them, an odd look on his face. The man nods stiffly. "It's getting pretty quiet now," he remarks, eyes scanning the city.

"Just a few stragglers left," Rogers reports. "Stark you take Thor and Loki somewhere. The rest of us can clean this up without your help. Come back as soon as you can."

"On it," Stark answers, and Thor can see a blur of red as the man flies towards them, landing on the roof. "That made quite a mess," he comments, scuffing his foot against the destroyed metal framework. "I'll just bring these," he adds, picking up the scepter in one hand and the Tesseract in the other. He walks towards an entrance which leads into the tower.

"I have a medical room inside. You can bring your brother. He'll be fine in here." Stark motions to him, and he gently lifts Loki into his arms. The bluish glow seems to have faded for the most part, but Thor can sense an unusual magic inside his brother. He might not be able to use seidr – having never been trained in it like Loki – though he can still sense it vaguely. The Infinity Stones were almost entirely eclipsing his senses, but with Loki so close, he can feel his brother. And he feels wrong.

They move deeper into the tower, Thor focusing more on Loki, who is remaining unresponsive, than his surroundings. Being on an elevator is a bit jarring though; it's definitely a vastly different mode of travelling between floors compared to the staircases in Asgard. Stark opens his helmet on the way down, so Thor can see his slightly worried expression.

"What happened to him?" Stark questions. "Do you know? Was it from whatever magic he did to close the portal? We don't really know anything about that here, so I don't think we could help much if his problems are rooted in magic."

One thing Thor has noticed about this mortal, is that he talks a lot. Still, he forces himself to remain polite. "I do not know," he admits, "But I believe whatever Loki did to close the portal has negatively affected him." He tightens his grip as if that will keep his brother with him.

Finally, they reach the right place, and Thor lays Loki down on the bed which Stark indicates. "Okay, JARVIS, run a scan and tell me what you find," orders Stark.

"Right away, sir," replies a voice which Thor can't see. He jumps, glancing around the room. It's empty except for the three of them.

"Don't worry," Stark assures him, obviously sensing his unease. "JARVIS is a computer. You can't see him. He takes care of security and watches over the tower. Stuff like that." It sounds like some other sort of Midgardian technology which Thor really doesn't want to take the time to understand.

"His body temperature is about ten degrees cooler than normal," the invisible voice reports.

"He's Jotun," Thor interrupts. "His temperature is lower than that of humans and Aesir since they naturally live in cold climates." After Loki fell into the Void, Thor had been devastated. He hadn't interacted with his friends for months, preferring to spend time alone, trying to understand. He'd researched more about Jotuns than he cares to admit, and the basics of their physiology are one thing he now knows.

"Okay, what else?" queries Stark, not commenting about Loki being a different species altogether. He doesn't even blink an eye for which Thor is grateful. It's bad enough that Asgardians have a long-standing hatred of Jotuns; Midgardians don't need to be the same.

"He appears to have suffered immense trauma fairly recently," continues JARVIS. "His body is covered with scars and wounds, some of which are still healing. He is also suffering from extreme undernourishment."

"Well, that last thing I can fix," Stark declares, having put the Tesseract and scepter down on the side of the room, "But I think he can wait for an hour while I finish taking care of the Chitauri, yes, JARVIS?"

"He is not in any imminent danger," the voice agrees, pausing, "But his body is emitting a strange type of gamma radiation. The frequency matches that of the Tesseract."

Thor feels his heart skip a beat as cold dread washes through him. He'd seen Loki's skin glowing blue like the Tesseract, but what if it was from the Tesseract? He doesn't know what happened. He doesn't even know how to start finding answers. "Something must have gone wrong," Thor says quietly.

"Naturally," Stark answers, "Because I've never heard of anything like that before. I mean, how is that even possible? What did he do anyways? Do you know?"

Thor shakes his head. "Magic has never been my line of interest," he admits and now, he almost wishes that it had been, that he had paid more attention to Loki when he spoke of his seidr.

Stark sighs. "I'll leave you two here. JARVIS, if anything happens, direct Thor to a hospital. I'll be back as soon as I can." He hurries out of the room, and Thor stands somberly next to his brother's bed, wondering just what went wrong.

**w**

It's been almost two days, and Loki is still as silent and unresponsive as he was in the beginning. Thor can't deny being worried; he's hardly left his brother's side, and even now, he's sitting here watching him. After the first night, Stark had Loki moved to a hospital where they'd inserted an IV and done a few scans, confirming that Loki is severely malnourished and shows signs of torture, though he's healing well.

Thor can't help but reach out – yet again – brushing his fingers over his brother's curly black hair. He doesn't look quite as much like a corpse as he did at first, but it's not a whole lot of comfort. He's not waking up, and no one knows why.

Just as Thor thinks that, he feels Loki twitch slightly beneath his hand. "Brother?" Thor whispers, a cautious hope springing up. Honestly, the only reason he didn't go back to Asgard is because he was afraid that Loki would be imprisoned, or he wouldn't be able to be with him at all times. There, Thor is crown prince. Here, he's simply another warrior whose services are not needed at the moment.

Loki shifts again, this time more visibly, and slowly, his bright green eyes open. Thor nearly chokes on air at the sight. He had – he had begun to fear that Loki might never awaken, that the cost of closing the portal would be his death. And the realization that Loki is still here – not dead – brings relief crashing over him, overwhelming and all-encompassing.

"Loki?" Thor prompts quietly, watching as his brother's eyes flicker around the room in confusion before finally settling on him. Something akin to relief flashes through Loki's gaze, but it's gone before Thor can even process it.

"Thor…" The hoarse, whispered word slips back Loki's lips.

"Yes, I'm here," Thor all but promises fervently. "Do you want a drink?"

Instead of trying to give a verbal response, Loki just nods, so Thor moves across the room to fill a glass with water for his brother. "How do you feel?" he asks when Loki is done drinking. He's leaning comfortably back against the head of his bed.

"I've been better," Loki answers with a slight shrug, "And worse. I'll live."

"I was so worried," Thor tells him, the words pouring out in a rush. "You were unconscious for two days. No one could figure out what was wrong. What happened, Loki?"

His brother tilts his head as if trying to determine exactly how much to divulge. Well, if Thor suspects he's not giving the full answer, he'll pry it out of him if necessary. "I used myself as a conduit for the Tesseract's power," Loki explains slowly. "It overwhelmed me, and my body was already weak from the time I spent in the Void." And with Thanos. Those words don't need to be said. They're implied, hanging heavily in the air.

"And?" Thor pushes when Loki doesn't say anything else.

Loki's expression seems minorly troubled. "And I believe that I have unwittingly formed a bond with the Tesseract."

Thor gapes at him. "You what? How does that even happen?"

"It's rare," he explains, "But possible. The Infinity Stones are sources of pure energy, and if an individual is bonded to one – often through extreme or extensive contact – the Stone's power is shared." He holds out his hand, creating a simple spell in his palm, one for light. The glowing orb is dim, and Thor immediately notices that the green is interspersed with blue.

"Oh," he breathes, staring wide-eyed, "So you've just gained a whole new level of power."

Loki's expression is bitter. "Yes," he agrees curtly. It's clear that he's not happy with this development for whatever reason, and Thor isn't sure how to push him to confide.

"We'll figure this out together," Thor promises. He's rewarded with a faint smile. "Maybe Mother can help. She knows far more about magic than me. And Loki?" He swallows. "I – I want to learn more too. You've tried to talk to me about it in the past, and I never really paid attention, but…" His voice trails off as he struggles to find a way to express how he feels. "I could sense the Tesseract's power in you, and it scared me, since I didn't know what was wrong."

His brother is quiet for a moment. "You want to learn magic?" he asks, disbelief obvious in his tone and words.

Thor nods. "The basics at least," he replies. "I want to be able to help you." And he does. After having failed Loki so many times, he wants to do this right, he wants to be able to help him when and how he needs it most.

"Alright," Loki murmurs. "I can start teaching you later." He looks away for a moment before visibly steeling himself. "I don't want to go back to Asgard right now."

Thor gapes at him in shock. "Why not? Asgard is our home!"

Loki purses his lips. "Your home," he agrees, "And I grew up there but…" He shrugs one shoulder. "The people never see me. I want to stay here. I know the mortals will be wary of me, but they won't ignore me."

He wants to protest, to beg that Loki reconsider, but he forces himself to remain mindful of everything Loki has said to him, both now and previously. It's obvious that his brother will be under extreme stress on Asgard – from the interest and lack thereof, not to mention the possible trial – and he won't be able to recover from his time with Thanos there. "I don't want to leave you," Thor admits, voice barely above a whisper.

Something shifts in Loki's eyes, and Thor knows that though his pride won't let him admit it, he feels the same. "You don't have to leave yet," is all Loki says, shifting again, green eyes meeting Thor's blue ones. For a moment, neither of them moves, before Thor leans forwards, wrapping his arms around his brother and holding him tightly. They both need this, and Loki's muffled, half-hearted protests won't deter Thor in the least.