Here I am again guys! I kinda disappeared but I thought about you every singole day! I really struggled to write this new chapter but I really wished to have it finished within Christmas, to give it to you as a gift.
Have a great day y'all!
Enjoy! xx
L
CHAPTER 7
The sky was still dark but the flares of the incoming dawn were starting to seep trough the clouds. Loki snapped his eyes open and pulled himself up. He exhaled deeply and enjoyed those last moments of silence, just before the new day broke trough. That old memory had hit his mind like an arrow and yet, he couldn't help smiling slightly with nostalgia. Yes, he had been scolded and the punishment had been hard but he had bore it with dignity and composiness, whithout sheding a single tear because on that day, for the first time in many years, he had felt useful, accepted and the pride he had seen in his brother's eyes, was worth, alone, a million punishments and scoldings. On that day, he had saved Thor with no tricks, or deceptions but only with his own ability, the one he had learnt through hard work and sleepless nights: the power to heal with magic.
~•~•~•~
"I do appreciate your enthusiasm, Captain." Strange said cautiously. "But leaving this place is not advisable at the moment, we cannot move now."
Steve's expression frowned and his smile faded .
"Yes." Natasha confirmed. "First of all, we have to decide what to do, where to start. Only then we can think of going away."
Steve nodded but didn't give any reply.
"So... it's only us... " Bruce stated shyly.
"I'm afraid so." Cap answered serious.
"What about Pointbreak?" Tony asked all of a sudden. "Any news?" His eyes darted from Natasha to Strange and finally to Steve and Bruce, longing for a positive response but as soon as his glance met theirs, his hope gradually blew out like a candle flame.
"Very well, we'll ask his crazy brother. He will surely know where he is." Tony muttered in the end. "Moving to the next matter - he went on, swallowing hard to hide his scorn - as we definitely need a plan, could anyone, more precisely you, Doctor, enlighten me about the fate of the stones?" He added with a shade of impatience in his voice.
Strange, who untill that moment had been of fewest words , stood up, and knotted his fingers . Everyone was looking at him, holding their breath and for a second, he felt like he had stepped back in time, when he was still Stephen Strange, the best surgeon in the world and people craved his opinion and his knowledge.
"As Agent Romanoff correctly said, he began, walking up and down the shelter, the stones are with Thanos, except for the Tesseract, which is with the son of Laufey."
"But - he continued after a short pause, nor Thanos, nor Loki can currently use them." His lips wrinkled in a faint smirk of triumph while Steve Bruce and Natasha gave each others uncertain looks. Tony, on the contrary, was staring away, blankly, his eyes narrowed.
"The stones are semi-sentient beings - Strange went on explaining - and until they are kept separated, they are- somewhat - autonomous. They alone choose who is the most suitable owner and Thanos has already had his chance. Besides, only if he had them all he could find an alternative way to use them.
"Would the gauntlet help?" Natasha inquired.
"Yes definitely. It works as a catalyst. It canalised the energy and in a way, snares the stones which, reunited, loose their autonomy and operate as a whole, single entity but luckly for us , the gauntlet does not longer exist and plus, Thanos does not possess all the stones. As for Loki, instead, he's simply too weak to use anything. It's even plausible that the stones agree to be used but there's an essential aspect about them : they are sources of energy and as such, they requires a certain amount of energy to be used; energy which, as I said, Loki does not have at the moment."
"Why not?" Natasha insisted.
"Because of Asgard. It has fallen and the few Asgardians left are scattered and far from each other." Strange replied laconically.
"Please Doctor, can you give us any further datail?" she asked it kindly but her tone showed a strong determination as well.
"Once again it's a matter of energy." Strange patiently clarified . "All the Asgardians have some powers... abilities wich grows taking strenght from each other. Asgard was not properly the source of those powers but acted like a sort of glue that kept all the Asgardians together.
"As far as I know, Loki is not Asgardian" Steve objected.
"No, he's not , not by birth at least, Strange said , but since he stepped into Asgard, he became one of them so... different blood but same rules." He concluded shrugging.
"This means our little deer is nothing but a mere mortal?" Tony gloated, moving his attention back on the group.
"No Mr Stark." Strange retorted coldly. "This means we definitely are advantaged but we still have a lot of questions to solve."
Tbc…