CHAPTER 8 - Repercussions
"Clint, Clint, you have to wake up," a voice called. Clint groaned. A hand was pressed to his cheek. He jerked away from it, opening his eyes in fear. It took a moment before he realized it was Loki. Clint sobbed in relief. "What did he do to you?"
"Magic," Clint whispered, noting that at some point he had fallen to the floor. Loki frowned before placing a hand on Clint's chest. He concentrated and as Clint whimpered, Loki noted his own magic was getting partially drained. His eyes snapped open.
"By the Norns! Clint," Loki cried in surprise. Clint moaned, having felt Loki's magic shifting into him. It was a horrible feeling. One that Clint really never wanted to repeat. It was almost like someone forcing you to eat while you're full. "Lets... Lets get you out of here."
There was a flash of green power that had both Loki and Clint crying out. But Loki got them to where he wanted. As tough as it had been, Loki was pleased that he had gotten them to the ship safely. Who knows where they could have ended up if Clint drained any more from his spell. The trickster fell to his knees, tired from having to fight Clint's magic. He hardly paid attention to Clint at this moment as he tried to regain his balance and center himself. The noise made Kraglin turn to look at the duo.
"Hey, you boys okay?" the Ravager asked. Loki glanced at Clint, who had fallen unconscious once again. Having that much magic released so quickly, Clint wasn't going to feel better for a few days. Never mind him having drained Loki's power. His body was trying to convert everything while settling into its proper place. There was a reason one didn't tend to open their magic without a stronger magic user around. In the perfect world, Clint would have done his first spell beside Stephen Strange or Loki. But, this wasn't the perfect world. In the meantime, Clint might pose a danger not only to himself but to those on the ship. That much magic was just sitting there, waiting for release. If it wasn't properly released soon, Clint would risk a blow back of epic proportions that risked the lives of anyone near. And that was even with Loki casting a shield spell to block most of the magic. Loki also doubted Clint would survive the blow back.
"We will be once we get back home," Loki snarled, anger surging at Ego and his own want to go back out there and beat the Celestial to death. Kraglin nodded before looking back out at the area around them. He muttered a curse or something but Loki wasn't paying attention anymore. Desperate, Loki grabbed the archer and headed off to a different area of the ship. He needed to keep Clint safe from everything right now. Including the archer himself. With Clint's magic now fully open, the archer was going to be able to drain any magic from any source faster than before. Hence why Loki's teleportation spell had hurt so much.
Loki stayed with Clint for so long that he didn't even notice anything around him. He guess that at some point they had defeated Ego. There was the sounds of a Ravager funeral that gave Loki a moments pause, but the trickster couldn't leave Clint. Kraglin came by to check on them once but didn't speak to them. Nebula did as well, ironically enough, and even stranger, she came with food. A full day passed before anyone else came to find the duo. And it was Rocket that found them.
"What the hell is this?" Rocket wondered, pointing to the scene before him as he tensed. Loki glanced back at the raccoon, knowing the tone was something akin to disappointment and revulsion.
"Ego... He... He woke something in Clint that he never wanted," Loki replied. Rocket looked down at the unconscious archer with a different air of curiosity.
"He... He uh, gonna be okay?" Rocket questioned, his tone more subdued and worried. Loki huffed, turning to look back at Clint. If it was anyone else that this happened too, Loki was certain they'd get through it fine. But this was Clint...
"I don't know."
"Well... Uh... We're gonna go get the Milano again and we... We can bring you back to Earth," Rocket muttered. Loki nodded glancing up at Rocket before focusing on Clint again. After a moment, Rocket sighed. "Okay... Uh... I'll tell the others."
Loki ignored the raccoon and just watched over Clint. The sudden influx of settling magic after just awakening the amount of power Clint had had to be extremely difficult to deal with. Loki wasn't all that surprised that Clint was unconscious. In fact, he was kinda glad for it. It meant that Clint wasn't suffering from the effects of what Ego did. But, it also meant less time for Loki to convince Clint to cast a spell and drain a bit of that magic. Leaving him unconscious was walking a fine line.
"Hey, Rocket said something happened to Clint," Quill called, coming into the room with Loki. Loki nodded. "Uh... I thought he was with you guys."
"When you left with Ego... He went to explore the area and then never came back. I'm assuming Ego kidnapped him and hid him from you and your friends," Loki answered. Quill frowned and came further into the room to sit by Clint as well.
"He... He uh, wasn't all that great with me either. Tried... Tried to use me as some sort of battery or something," Quill explained. Loki sighed, looking over to the guardian.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that," the Lie-smith replied honestly actually feeling that way. Ego was so much more terrible than Loki realized. If one could go back and change everything, Loki would in a heartbeat. For both of the men's sake. Quill nodded.
"Yeah, it... It sucks but, what can ya do?" Quill tried to laugh it off. Loki shook his head.
"No. What happened with Ego should have never happened to anyone. He should have been dealt with long ago," Loki growled, cursing whoever he could that could have had knowledge of what Ego had done. One of the main people (considering Quill was human) was certainly Heimdall himself. Quill huffed.
"Yeah, well. Nova Corps isn't all that into protecting the galaxy," Quill stated. Loki shook his head with a disgusted laugh.
"Explains another reason why Clint wanted nothing to do with them."
"Yeah... For what it's worth... I am sorry for what happened," Quill told the trickster. Loki sighed. There was no way any of them could have predicted anything like this would have happened. And there was certainly no way to go back and change it now.
"I'm sorry for what happened to you as well."
"Thanks," Quill said before moving to get up but Clint suddenly moaned. Loki twitched, placing his hands to hover over parts of Clint's frame. Quill sat back down, confused.
"Clint," Loki called. There was another moan. Quill couldn't help his smirk at that. He totally would be doing the same thing if he was in Clint's place. "Clint, you need to wake up more."
"No," the archer grumbled, not even twitching. Loki sighed, relief flooding through him. He had almost feared that the amount of magic Clint possessed would have killed him with the way Ego released it. Hearing the archer now, Loki could tell Clint was getting at least a little bit better.
"We need to talk," Loki insisted. Clint shifted, turning now to face Loki and Quill. "I'm sorry."
"Can you fix it? Put it back?" Clint asked, his voice sad and pained. Quill frowned, looking between the duo. Loki shook his head.
"What Ego did cannot be fixed. I can only help you learn how to control it," Loki softly said. Clint whined, closing his eyes. That was not what he wanted to hear. A moment later, Loki and Quill realized Clint had fallen asleep.
"He gonna be okay?" Quill wondered. Loki sighed deeply.
"Physically, yes. Mentally... No," Loki admitted. "Ego did irreparable damage."
"What? You keep skirting around what exactly he did," Quill pushed.
"All beings have the ability to use magic. Some, have a higher chance of actually being able to cast a spell, while most just go along not knowing. Clint... Clint had gotten to a higher level of magic than many humans had gotten without it being trained. And... Clint didn't want it," Loki started. Quill frowned.
"How can one not want magic?"
"When one only sees the evil of magic," Loki retorted. Quill sighed, looking back down at Clint. Loki looked to Quill. "If you had only seen Ego's abilities that shaped and destroyed worlds, would you have willingly tried to learn it? Even if you'd be stronger than him?"
"I... I guess I wouldn't have," Quill answered, his mind seriously focusing on the question. He could see Loki's and Clint's point. There was no way he'd have helped Ego if he'd known what was going to happen.
"Clint hates magic. He doesn't mind magic users such as myself, but he hates it done near him, to him and to those around him. I stayed at his home for nearly a year and no matter how often I used magic in front of him, I couldn't convince him that he should try and learn," Loki added. "Clint's magic also has a unique property. If any magic was done to him, his magic absorbs it and increases. Now that Clint's magic is awakened, he... He has less of a chance of holding it back. Teleporting him off the planet and to the ship was difficult as his magic tried to stop the spell by stealing it."
"So... He's gonna get stronger?"
"Not by choice. He needs to work with his magic before I can even attempt to have him learn to stop the absorption."
"And... You can't lock it away again?"
"No. Once open, it cannot be undone. Clint is now a magic user, whether he wants it or not," Loki grumbled.
It took nearly a day or two before Clint felt well enough to leave the room Loki had brought him to. The guardians were nice enough to give him space considering it was partly their fault for what happened to him. If they hadn't taken the job and gotten Nebula, they wouldn't have been in danger for Ego to come save them. Surprisingly enough, Clint didn't blame any of them for what happened to him. He just... Floated through the ship until they finally arrived back at the Milano. Loki tried to speak with the archer a few times, but Clint either walked away or acted like he couldn't hear the trickster.
With Kraglin's help, the Milano was finished being fixed in only a few hours. And off the group went, leaving Kraglin to rebuild this Ravager fleet back to Yondu's vision. Clint hid himself away in the bunk after the Milano left the planet. The ship was tense as they realized how this was going to go.
"We're gonna head right back to Earth, right?" Gamora once again confirmed, this time seriously determined to not allow any more distractions. Quill nodded his head. They couldn't mess up like this again.
"It's gonna take us about a month and... We have to stop at least once though," Rocket pointed out. Everyone turned to glare at him. Rocket sighed. "We're gonna quickly run out of supplies."
"Knowhere is on the way," Quill suggested.
"I don't think that's a good idea with Clint," Gamora argued. "Lots of people would love to get at him."
"Knowhere will be fine, as long as Clint doesn't leave the Milano. And I doubt he'd be willing to," Loki soothed, glancing down the hall that Clint was sulking down. "We need to get him back to Earth. His friends there will help him through what Ego has done."
"Okay. We'll be at Knowhere in a week or so," Quill announced. Loki nodded and turned to go down the hall and check on Clint. The door to Clint's bunk hadn't been shut, even though the archer had hid himself inside. It gave Loki some hope that Clint was just trying to sort things out in his head but was still willing contact. But, Loki doubted he was the contact that the archer wanted. Clint was sitting on the bunk, his legs gripped tightly by his arms and pulled into his chest. His head laid on his knees. Sighing, Loki knocked on the door.
"Clint?" he called. There was no response from the archer, just like on Kraglin's ship. Slowly, Loki moved closer to Clint, sitting on the bed in front of the archer. "Clint, we need to discuss this."
"Go away," Clint stubbornly told the trickster. It's been the only two words anyone had gotten from Clint since they arrived on the Milano. Which was better than the absolute silence Clint had gone through on the Ravager ship. Gamora and Quill had suggested Mantis check on Clint but Loki refused to attempt it. If Mantis's ability was anything like magic, Clint would absorb it. He also assumed it was Mantis who helped Ego take the archer in the first place.
"Clint, you know I can't do that. You can't push me away," Loki muttered.
"Go away."
"Clint, this is pointless and dangerous."
"Go away."
"Are you trying to threaten all of our lives?" Loki snapped sick and tired of Clint trying to brush all of this off. Clint looked up at that in surprise. "You are a brand new powerful magic user who has never gotten any sort of training. It won't be much longer before the magic tries to find an outlet. And it will."
"I... I don't want to learn," Clint sobbed. His eyes clearly showed that he just wanted to roll over and die. If given half the chance, Clint would likely have stepped off the ship to go into space and kill himself. Loki sighed, placing a hand on the archer's knee. He was going about this the wrong way. But he needed Clint to understand the real danger here.
"I know. And I'm sorry. But there is nothing else we can do. You need to learn at least one spell to hold back any magical build up that will start to happen," Loki mentioned, his voice much softer and kinder. Clint winced, turning his head to look at the wall. "I won't make you do anything big, or evil, or dangerous. Just something small."
"I can't," Clint croaked. Loki let out a deep breath, trying not to get annoyed with the archer again. Being angry or harsh with the archer wasn't going to solve any of this.
"How about this? That bow that I gave you," Loki started. Clint jerked to look at him surprised. None of them had thought to look for his bow after the guardians had gotten their own weapons back from the Nova Corps search. And honestly, Clint hadn't even really thought about it until now. "Yes, you still have it and could have called upon it even without your magic... Magic breaking free."
"What do you mean?" Clint whispered. Loki sighed.
"Flick either wrist out and imagine the bow returning to your hand," Loki said. Clint frowned but shot his right arm out into the room and a second later, the bow Loki had given him before appeared. Shocked, Clint stared at it, pulling it closer to actually examine it. "Now, last time, I gave you a quiver that never emptied. But, I can teach you a spell that will make the needed arrows appear as you draw back."
"What?" Clint asked, looking back to Loki. Loki was surprised to see Clint's hopeful expression. But then he thought about what he was offering the archer. Of course Clint would love to do anything that revolved around his bow.
"I'm saying, that with the right magic spell, you can create your own infinite collection of arrows that you'd never have to carry," Loki described seemingly leading the fly into the honey trap. But, Loki could only pray that this was a honey trap that Clint would be okay with. Clint furrowed his brow, looking down at the bow. That... That actually sounded interesting. "Are you willing to learn at least that? You train often enough that that spell will prevent any magic build up."
"I-"
"If you say 'can't' then I'm going to throw you off this ship, your family be damned," Loki hissed unable to hold in his anger any more. Clint winced. He knew that Loki meant that too. Sighing, Clint shifted so he was sitting on the edge of the bed like Loki.
"How dangerous is this spell if I mess it up?" Clint wondered. Loki exhaled a breath of relief.
"There will only be a minor back lash of sore muscles and likely a head ache," Loki informed. And that was true. This spell was safe in backlash but... It was at a higher level than new users were ready for. Clint should honestly be working on illusion magics, or levitation spells. Simple trick like magic. But Loki knew the archer would never go for that. Clint sighed, looking back down to the bow.
"Okay."
Happy New Year! I totally had mentally planned on releasing this chapter on the 1st... But I stayed up till four cause I couldn't sleep and basically couldn't think. But, you at least get it today!
Darius is doing great. Having extreme fun playing with all his toys. Also still trying to clean up boxes and stuff from Christmas. Ugh, there is just so much! I'm finally able to get him on the potty and actually having him do something. Only problem... He does it during our nap time and seemingly waits till I get comfortable before saying he has to go. It's so upsetting! But I can't deny him the ability to go just cause I don't want to get up. Today I tried having hubby take him to the bathroom before going to nap with me. They said he went. They were wrong... Like five minutes into laying down... 'Mommy, I have to go potty.' ARGH! But, hey. He's doing it so can't fully complain. Baby Jason is doing good as well. Being a bit of a punk in the morning. His parents are giving him four ounces of baby food and when Baby Jason finishes it, he cries until he gets four ounces of formula! And sometimes, he cries after the formula! So, I suggested giving him the one ounce of water that his doc had told them to start giving him. Seems to be working so far.
And, well... That's it! See you next Friday!