Notes:
Trigger warning, Character Death, medical emergency, CPR, resuscitation attempts.
Thor was nearest to where Shay had fallen, but he stumbled trying to catch his axe and Thanos before they could fall on her.
Stark reached her first, landing at her side with his damaged suit sputtering, remnants of an I.V still hanging from one arm.
"Friday, check her vitals."
Bruce crawled from a nearby stream, shivering and shirtless. Steve, limping faster than he should have and supporting Bucky who was bracing his ribs with one arm. Nat, Sam and Peter. Rhodes and Wanda.
Loki watched from a cliff face a short distance away, where he'd been thrown before they'd arrived.
"No heart beat detected, boss."
"No!" Peter's keening wail ran like a shockwave through them.
"So, we restart it." Stark said simply, tapping a sequence on the beadwork at her neck to bring up scans.
Sam moved in next to Shay, interlocking his hands and beginning CPR as Tony swiped through holo-screens furiously trying to find a solution. "Can't do that- no use- that won't work- did she? Good. Administer the adrenaline."
"There's not enough current left in her to restart her heart." Friday answered sounding dejected.
"My suit-"
"Not enough, and Thor would burn through her, you need a controlled source."
"Calculate the charge. I could build a-"
The others tuned him out as he rambled on. Steve held Shay's hand, frozen as Sam continued pumping despite the sharp cracking sound.
"Wanda." Nat's voice cut through Wanda's fear and shook her from her stupor. "You can do it, pump her heart, breath for her."
She twisted her hands, and panicked when nothing happened. "I- I can't- I- she's-"
"Thor." A deeper voice rose above the chaos, and Thor looked up to see Loki standing over his shoulder. "Strike me, I'll be the conduit."
Thor nodded, waving everyone back.
Sam waited for the others to move back before raising his own hands. "Clear."
Bucky found himself whispering the wish under his breath. "You made me a promise, angel, don't you dare break it."
Thor roared. Lightning struck. Loki gasped and sunk to his knees. Long thin fingers hovered over Shay's chest and a spark leapt across the gap.
Sam barely waited for the current to stop before reaching in to check her pulse. He shook his head.
"More power." Friday suggested.
Again, lightning struck Loki and he rolled his shoulders back before lowering his hand again. His fingers rested against her skin.
The world faded for Loki.
She'd breached his senses easily twice before, once to see his intention and again on the battlefield, when he'd felt the sorrow of his grief lightened, and his courage renewed. Her magic was natural, instinctive rather than his own studied understanding and yet it seemed in kind with his.
The muscles of the heart contracted. And the connection of her mind and his now flowed in reverse.
Effortlessly and without intention, he found himself wrapped in her memories. In what seemed like seconds and years, he witnessed every wound she bore. Like him, she had suffered much. Too much. But where he'd chosen to grow harder than the world he was in, she'd made herself soft for hers. He had wounded to feel in control, she had healed. Something clicked into place, a voice like his mothers whispered a balm to his heart, and he understood his error. He had thought she was a weak Midgardian, but he had been wrong. This Angel carried the strength to be tender and kind in the face of cruelty and pain.
Loki had wanted to make Thanos bleed, to hurt him for all that he'd done. The Angel had shown a mercy he couldn't have fathomed, taking her enemy's pain and grief away in the moment before the snap.
He severed the connection and gently brushed the hair away from her face as the colour returned to her skin.
"Is she-?" Peter whispered in the pause.
"She lives." Loki answered softly, his voice low and brimming with emotion.
Friday interrupted the relieved breath they shared. "Miss Wilder is stable for the moment, but she's still bleeding internally."
Sam started forward, feeling her pulse and barking orders. "Med-bay, Steve, Bucky help me lift her. Wanda, stabilize her body if you can."
They were still frozen in the fear of the previous moment and moved slowly.
So, it was Loki that raised her from the ground with a spell. Golden light like her own cradled her body, became a solid surface under her wings and lifted her gently into the air.
Outside of the clearing time had spun on. Wakandans, The guardians of the galaxy, Strange, Nebula and Korg. All had been fighting when the snap happened. The long howl had frozen their blood. It had taken a beat, a breath, a slow look around, for them to understand what had happened. And they had looked at their own hands, waiting, fearing that they too would dissolve. Another beat, another breath, still they stood, solid.
Nothing remained but warriors dripping sweat and blood and a river that ran blue.
T'Challa's whispered command for transport broke the spell and the defenders began again to move, supporting injured comrades and collecting fallen weapons. One ship broke away from the pack to race towards the forest in response to a call over the coms.
The procession departed the last ship to land on the tarmac in solemn ceremony.
Pippin lead the way; his great grey head held proudly. Thor and Loki came next, their cloaks flowing like standards before a queen. On either side of the winged Angel walked Sam and Bucky, Nat and Peter. Steve followed carrying Vision's body with Wanda at his side. Bruce and Rhodey, supporting Tony between them, brought up the rear.
Okoye motioned to Steve and he and Wanda peeled away from the group to follow her.
The Four who had been Seven stepped into the line to take their place.
Notes:
There's been all sorts of character moments in the last two chapters, so I'm curious, who's perspective have you been most caught by?
Also: did you expect Thanos to win? did I make a good enough case for why he failed?
I'm dying to hear from you all!
