Chapter 20.
For the record, getting stabbed in the shoulder with a knife hurts.
It hurts a lot.
I ran forward in the sand hoping to catch him off guard, and it backfired in my face on an epic level. I threw out the ball of energy, and he feinted to the left before it hit him, and he slammed into me. Twisting my arm around, I dropped my knife and scrambled back as he picked up the five inch piece of steel and chrome smoothly. I formed another ball in my hand, and the next thing I knew I was laying on my back in the sand, with my shoulder on fire.
The ball of energy dissipated and I put my hand up to pull the knife out of my shoulder, and I found it slick with my own blood.
Tony let out a pulse at him, knocking him off his feet briefly as I found my knees and sat up and pulled on the handle as hard as I could. Yanking the slippery knife out of me, it released and I tried not to throw up or pass out. I screamed and stood back up and charged at him as he faced off against Thor, he used a pulse of energy to knock him back into the sand as Tony hovered above me. I dove to the side as Mjlonir crashed into the sand next to me, spraying me with beach.
"Go clear the beach!" I yelled up at Tony as I saw people starting to gather around and watch the spectacle. He flew off down the shore, Sif and Fandral giving chase after him toward the curious people.
My shoulder screamed agony as it healed and I gathered up my power and threw it out with my good arm and he staggered back as Loki pulled two knives from his sides and I motioned him back. But he continued to walk forward with anger on his face, I favored my injured shoulder and threw out more energy as the man turned.
I could feel the tendons and muscle in my shoulder begin to heal, reforming as I walked forward with the knife in my good hand, but it was not healing fast enough. I stepped forward again before the man could turn and advance on Loki to attack him, as another knife hit him in the leg and I smiled at Loki who had thrown it. I tossed out another ball of fire and caught him in the shoulder, and he brushed it away casually.
This guy was not going to go down easy.
He sneered at Loki in anger and turned on me as he pulled the knife out of his leg and looked at me. His face returned to that emotionless state and I stopped in my tracks, quickly throwing out a pulse that hit him center mass and he staggered back again in the sand. I ran forward and hit him again with another burst of energy and swung around with a punch that threw him off balance, but he recovered quickly and grabbed my arm and swung me around to lift me off the ground by the neck one handed.
My windpipe closed and I gasped for breath, I dropped my knife and wrapped my hands around his wrist as I kicked out at him and squirmed as he held me. He turned the knife from his leg in his hand and drove it into my chest just under my right breast, and I felt the lung collapse as steel worked in between two of my ribs. What little breath I had from the crushing fist on my neck was knocked out of me, and my eyes went wide in pain and I couldn't find any air to pull in and scream out as the agony tore through me. Someone far away screamed for me, and the man dropped me into the sand as I bled and tears of pain rolled down my face.
"Surrender your power and soul, I can end your pain Lilliana." He said as he twisted the handle of the knife in my chest, making me cry out as blood filled my mouth, choking me. He used a pulse to throw Loki back as I saw him appear behind the man with another knife, intending to bury it in between his shoulders. I mentally cried out for Loki, and gasped for whatever air I could find and tasted blood.
"Surrender to me, and I may let your friends live." He said and his face remained expressionless as he gripped the knife and pulled it out of my chest, I could feel it scrape my ribs and I screamed as I saw my blood flip into the air form the blade like glittering rubies. My breath hitched and I forced my other lung to fill and gasped again as I tried again to fill my chest with air, I opened my mouth and heard the air that I pulled in escape through the hole in my chest.
"Go to hell." I said and spit a mouthful of blood into his face.
He blinked at me and grew dead calm as he wiped his face on his sleeve and put one thumb under my eye and slowly extended the lower lid down. I shook in pain and watched him as he tilted his head as he studied me moving the knife over my head and placing it on my cheek and drawing the blade over it slowly as he left a ragged cut before stopping to hover the blade over my eye, I dug my hand into the sand and picked up a handful of the beach. I swung it up and into his face, fighting for my life I moved fast and tried my hardest to win.
He turned his head to protect his eyes from the grit that flew through the air at him, the second he was distracted was more than enough time to grab his knife wrist and pivot myself around until I heard the bones in the joint pop and snap under my momentum.
"Two can play this game you son of a bitch." I said and took control of the knife, driving it into his heart with all my anger behind it, giving it a twist to make sure he stayed down permanently.
I fell back into the sand and took long, deep breaths as my lung inflated again and healed in my chest. I coughed the blood out of my newly healed lung and rolled onto my back, my hands working and I cried, staring at the sky and saw a seagull glide over me and I shook in shock and listened to my heart pound away. My shirt wet with blood and stuck to my stomach as a pale face with black hair appeared over my head, he looked down at me and lifted my head carefully and smoothed my hair as I gasped air and continued fighting the urge to vomit.
"Little Mouse?" Loki said and looked down at me and lifted my head to rest it in his lap as I took in long breaths, savoring each gasp.
"I'm a mess." I said as he looked down at me and took both of my hands in his, using my shoulders to pull me close to him and cradling me as I sobbed and cried as everything hurt inside me, part of me trying not to fracture worse than it already had.
"I had not noticed." He said and touched my face and wrapped his arm around me as I shook against him in the sand.
"It is over, you are safe." He said to me and I put my arm up around his neck and swallowed hard and shook more as he ran his hand over my hair and toyed with my braid.
"Take me home." I said and he put both his arms around me and I cried and looked back at the body in the sand, Loki turned my head away and covered my eyes.
"Don't look at it." He whispered and I looked over his shoulder to see Clint walking up to us and he looked at me.
"Not to break up a touching moment." Clint said as he walked up and pointed at the dead man. "Who the hell was that?"
Loki helped me get to my feet, and I groaned painfully as my legs agreed to work bit by tiny bit. I used Loki for support and we walked with Clint over to Thor.
"He stole all my Halloween Candy, I took it personally." I said and limped down the beach to The Norse God of Inconvenient Naps as he sat up and shook his head, looking dazed as he saw me.
"You are wounded Lady." Thor said looking at the blood on me, and I elbowed Loki in the ribs before he could say anything rude, laughing a bit and wincing in pain as I looked down at him.
"Well, I have had wor..." My voice cut off suddenly as a pain erupted in my lower back, a knife was shoved into it and severed my spine just above the waistband of my jeans. My legs instantly became useless and I felt a hand close around the back of my neck as the man pulled me away from Loki and I screamed. My legs drug uselessly in the sand and I looked in horror at them as he threw me down into the sand and pulled the knife out of my back. He turned and used a pulse of energy to throw everyone back as I dug my hands into the loose grit and tried to claw myself away from him in blind, helpless fear. He knelt over me as I pushed backwards in shock, and cried out in terror at my slow progress, he looked at me calmly and I shivered in fear as I lay back.
"Give me your power and soul." He growled and stepped over me and lifted me again, throwing me one handed into the jet where my body collided with the hull, snapping my head back and the wind was knocked out of me.
"Your suffering can end, just surrender your life." He said calmly as he grabbed my useless leg and threw me by swinging me around using it down the beach, where I landed in the sand face down. I cried out as he walked over to me with the knife in one hand and flipped me over as I cried out again in fear and frustration. I fought to make my legs work, and tears trailed down my cheeks as I looked up into the face of my death.
"I can make it all end Lilliana. I can take it all away, just give up." He said as he straddled me and I shook my head back and forth violently. He stretched my hand out calmly, his hand locked over my wrist and pressed the tip of the knife against the bend of my arm at the elbow and pushed down into the joint with the blade. I screamed in pain and thrashed with my good arm, my other one rendered useless as he pulled the knife from the ruined joint and shoved his thumb into the wound and I screamed again. White hot agony traveling on nerve endings to my brain as the world started fading gray from the overload of pain.
"No!" I screamed at him, shaking my head and laying my head back into the sand and shivering as my heart pounded in my chest from blood loss.
"NO! I will not give it to you!" I shouted and he looked down at me as I gasped for air and he studied me the way a spider would look at a fly caught in its web.
"You will heal, and I will cut you again." He said and I glared at him, defiant in my pain. He used energy to throw everyone back again, and I cried out in pain and fear.
"I will not give in to you." I said and he drove the knife into my side and I screamed, but I refused to give in to him. I refused to be scared anymore and dug my good arm into the sand, wriggling my fingers down into it to get a good handful when I saw the hairs on my arms stand up.
I smiled up at him as the electrical charge built up all over my body and he pulled the knife out of my side as the kinetic energy from Cascadia surged into me. Not realizing what I was doing, he put the tip of the knife over my heart and I smiled up at him as he made a small cut in my shirt, toying with me.
"All you have to do is surrender." He said and I laughed as the energy built up and my heart started racing, kicking into overdrive and pounding a mile a minute as if someone had shifted gears in my body.
"What are you doing?" He said as I reached up with my good hand and tiny bolts of lightening began to surge from my body and over the beach, the arcs dancing from my body and between the grains of sand around us as I laughed harder. He may have crippled me, but I was not completely helpless. I wrapped my fingers around the handle of the knife and pushed it down into my skin over my heart and I looked up at him and laughed. I felt my sternum scrape the steel blade and grinned at him like I had lost my mind completely.
"What are you doing girl?" He asked me again and the energy continued to surge through my body, my heart beat in half second intervals and my spine slipped back into place and the rest of the wounds began to heal. The sand turned to glass under me from the heat and pressure of the energy conversion occurring in my body. Small rocks lifted off the ground and hovered in the air as I laughed harder and I pulled in more energy and my skin turned hot to the touch as I burned him with my hand.
"You want power?" I said to him and he tried to pull back, I heard screaming from the beach and my now healed other arm came up and I locked my hand over my other one on the knife and I let go of a surge and the knife melted and vaporized between us. His hand burning as he screamed and it burned away from his body, leaving a stump.
He looked dumbly as his missing hand and I pulled more energy from the fault into me, taking it all into my core and starting Cascade back on its natural course. I Reached out and grabbed a fistful of his clothes as my body lifted up off the ground dragging him with me, the screaming voice in the background fading in the echo of the power that surged in and around me.
"You will destroy yourself." He warned and I looked down at him and saw pure fear in his eyes and I felt my hair lift around my head in a halo of darkness. My skin burned as I was engulfed in hot, blue fire as it trickled around the both of us and flowed over us as we were lifted higher off the ground, and I let the fire take him as the power surged in and around me.
"Do you know the last thing stars do as they die?" I asked him and he looked into my eyes as he shook and burned, I tightened my grip and pulled him close into my chest and I wrapped my arm around his neck and put my mouth close to hie ear, my back to the ocean.
"They explode in a supernova. Enjoy your power motherfucker." I said and let all the power go as the second half of the soul flowed into me. The power shot out in a white hot light, and I was thrown back as he was vaporized instantly. His face immolating and melting away as I was thrown back toward the ocean, the last thing I remember before my eyes closed and I welcomed the darkness, was the ice cold water against my bare skin and the gentle rocking of the tide as I sank below the waves and floated into oblivion.
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In the USGS office, Eric Williams cheered at the needle on the seismograph twitched and he threw his head back in triumph seeing the geologic abnormality come to an end.
He thanked whatever god was listening, and cried into his hands as he dialed Terry on his cell to tell her to come home.
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Loki scanned the waves for any sign of Lilliana and found her floating on her back instantly, Thor and he splashed into the salty water as he pulled his coat off and covered her nude body in the garment as he lifted her. Clint rushed out from the jet with a med kit and she was laid back into the sand, her eyes open, glazed in death with her pupils staring into the sky and into eternity. Loki looked down in horror as the lifeless girl in his arms as he screamed soundlessly and smoothed her hair back from her face as a blanket was brought to cover her legs. Her body was pulled away from him by someone and he looked on as three people began trying to bring life back into her.
Clint pulled a device out of a bag and held it in his hands and he pressed the pads to her naked chest and he pressed buttons on the handles as she lay in the sand. Her body jerked up and her back arched as he shouted for someone to put a mask over her face and start breathing for her. He filled a syringe with liquid and Loki watched as everyone fought to save her life. Clint injected her arm with the fluid and dropped it to use the paddles again, and Loki watched as she remained so horribly still.
Seconds turned into minutes, and she continued to lay so still.
"Live." He said and his voice sounded far away as three people kept working on her and stopped, tears forming in their eyes as they shook their heads and pulled the jacket closed around her body. Her hands were pale and turning white from the lack of blood flow. Thor reached out and closed her eyes gently as Loki sat back and tried not to scream as she she lay perfectly still, the blanket was pulled over her head, covering her face and Sif wept into her hands.
"She will be welcomed in Valhalla with open arms." Thor said and fell back into the sand, tears ringing his eyes as he looked at the group.
Everyone looked at Loki, and he sat quietly and ran his hands into his own hair and he rocked back and forth. Thor clapped an arm on his shoulder and he looked at him and back at the white sheet that concealed her body.
A sleeping girl, not dead, just sleeping.
"No." he said and his voice was thick in his throat as he looked at the blanket that rippled in the offshore breeze. The memory of her on another beach laughing, eating a candy bar and licking her lips as she chewed. Another one of her smiling and pushing a strand of hair behind her ear surfaced, and the memory of her in the emerald gown as she blushed at him. A dance that should have been his, a soft smile, her fingers on parchment. Another flooded in of their conversation on the rocks, and the way she looked after he lay with her on the bed. Her head bending to look into the eyepiece of the telescope, a warm light on her face, the way she smiled at him with sad eyes. Her warn touch, a girl lost in echoes of time. He pushed out of the sand and pulled the blanket away from her face as he put his hands on her chin and forehead.
"No." He said again and lifted her by her shoulders, and his rage built in him.
"Live damn you, open your eyes and live." He said to her and shook her shoulders and everyone looked at him as he pointed at the device that Clint used to try and restart her heart.
"Do it again!" He screamed and Clint took the pads and put them on her chest, he pressed them down as Loki watched, he pressed the buttons and her body jerked up and relaxed again.
"Again!" He screamed as Sif sobbed in the background, Clint shook his head and looked at him.
"She is gone Loki." Clint protested as Stark looked at him sadly, Fandral and Volstagg lowered their swords to pray over her body, and Loki screamed and he looked at Clint.
"Do it again!" He shouted and Clint worked with the paddles and she jerked up and lay still again.
"You listen to me girl, you are not to leave. You are to fight this and come back, you are stubborn, and you will not die on me. You said the universe loves a stubborn heart! Show the damned universe how stubborn yours is!" he screamed at her and shouted down into her face. "You are not to give in and you are not to give up!"
"Now open your eyes and fight!" He screamed down and repeated for her to fight again, his hand slapping her face with each shouted word, rocking it back and forth and he pointed at Clint and ordered him to use the device again. Clint pushed him back and off of her as he pressed the pads to her chest and gave her another shock and he blinked.
"Again! Do it!" He ordered and Clint pressed the paddles to her chest and pressed the buttons again and her eyelids fluttered suddenly.
Everyone looked down in shock as she fought for her breath, her heart started in her chest and she moved in a mechanical way. Loki watched her and lifted her head as she coughed up ocean water to her side and gasped for breath.
"Yes, that is it Little Mouse, breathe." He said and pulled her into his lap as tears traced down his face and she gasped for air, cradling the girl close to him as Fandral and Volstagg laughed and Sif cried out in happiness. Her small hand peeked around the sleeve of his coat, and she took in deep, hitching breaths as she gasped against him. The sand fell from her hair and she groaned as her shaky arms flexed against him. Her legs kicked out as muscles contracted and she folded her legs up against his side as she shivered. Life found her and settled into her body as everyone watched, her limbs slowly came under control and her hands clawed at his armor, finding something substantial to hold onto and she gasped air deeply as her brain began to find more control over her disjointed fingers and limbs.
Her face looked up into his, and the blue that ringed her eyes faded as oxygenated blood began circulating through her, she sighed, her head falling back as her eyes closed and she made a small sound that caused him to fear her slipping away again. He gave her a gentle shake as a hand fell onto his shoulder, and he cradled the back of her head and lifted it gently and looked down at her.
"No, stay awake, look at me." He said and her fingers found his face and she touched the tears on his cheeks.
"I didn't know Gods could cry." She said and shivered, her eyelids fluttered a bit as she slipped and he gave her a small shake again to keep her with him.
"We can, should the occasion call for it." He said to her and she looked back up at him and gasped in pain as she coughed and he lifted her head again to help her breathe.
"Is he dead?" She asked in in a small weak voice and he nodded as he looked up at the sky.
"Yes, he is gone, he can't hurt you. I promise." He said to her as the waves crashed on the beach behind them.
"Take me home." She said and sighed.
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I woke up and my eyes opened, everything was way too bright, I heard a distant beep and realized I was in a hospital bed. It turned my head softly and I felt a hand on mine, thumb traced back and forth and I looked down at Loki and sighed seeing him.
"Hello." He said and he kissed the back of my hand.
"Hi." I said and he watched me quietly for a long time.
"How do you feel?" I smiled at him as my eyes felt so very heavy and sighed.
"Safe." I replied and drifted back to sleep.
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When I woke again, the room was dim, and the only other person there was Natasha. I shifted my weight and she looked up from the tablet she was looking at and smiled at me.
"You are awake." She said and set her tablet down and stood up and picked up a cup of water with a straw in it and carefully guided the straw between my dry lips. I drank from it, filling my mouth with the water and coughed a bit and she wiped my chin and I brushed her hand away gently.
"How long?" I asked her and she looked away sadly.
"Four days." She said and I let it slowly sink in, it was completely understandable though, I used a lot of energy up in that one shot.
"You died, and we were able to bring you back." She said softly and I looked at her in fear and shock.
"What?" I said and gasped at her, not completely believing what I had just heard and sat up. She pushed me back, adjusting the pillow behind my head and I looked at her.
"Calm down, you need to stay calm. Are you going to be O.K?" She asked me and I nodded at her quietly, she put a hand on my shoulder and I sighed and trembled a bit.
"My heart stopped and everything?" I said and she nodded at me and I turned onto my side, and she pushed me back gently.
"You came back because someone refused to give up." She said, and I looked at her, and blinked knowing who she talked about.
"Where is he?" I asked her and looked around the room scared, and she sat down on the stool next to my bed and picked up a phone. She pressed a button and I heard it ring over the earpiece as it went dead again immediately.
"I can only imagine who that was." I said and smiled at her weakly.
"The only way we could get him to go to sleep every now and then was to promise to call him as soon as you woke up." She said and I laughed a bit as she looked at the door expectantly. I continued to laugh harder as someone walked into the inner glass doors and ricocheted off them, falling back and steadying themselves.
"Wasn't that a scene in Jurassic Park?" I asked Natasha and she laughed at the joke. On the other side of the door, Loki collected himself and pressed the access button to allow himself entry and ghosted into the room.
"On a graceful scale of one to ten, that was a Bigfoot in a China Shop." I said as he walked in and stood at the foot of the bed, looking at me coolly. Natasha stood up and patted my shoulder as she went to leave the room and I looked up at her gratefully.
"I am now off duty," she said as she left. "My turn to get some sleep, and it is good to see your sense of humor survived with the rest of you."
I groaned and put my hands up to my face as Natasha left and he continued to stare down at me as I lay helpless, afraid that I had dreamed of the man holding my hand and stroked it gently. He glided around and sat in Natasha's vacant stool, his coat flared out around him as he sat, I looked at him and smiled weakly.
"Going to yell at me?" I asked and he smiled down at me as he brushed some hair away from my face with a long finger, looking at me and tracing his fingers down my cheek. I tried to take his hand, but he pulled away, and nodded down at the bandage over the back of my hand. My fears melted away and I looked at him as he sat quietly and smiled back at him.
"I don't want to hurt you, you have a tube keeping you hydrated inserted there." He said and reached across my stomach for my other hand, and rubbed the back of it with his thumb gently.
"Where is everyone else?" I asked and he laughed to himself as he continued to rest his hand on my cheek his fingers drifting up to smooth my hair as he sat and looked at me.
"Asgard, they left two days ago to sing your praises and bravery to Odin. You will most likely be celebrated on your return." He said softly.
"I am going to have to set the record straight then." I said and Loki looked at me confused and took a breath.
"I have to give you the credit due to you. If you had not fought for me, I would have died. And everything you taught me, kept me alive. Without you, I would never have gotten through the last few days, and millions would have died." I said and he smiled at me, chuckling to himself and kissed my forehead.
"You give me too much credit." He said and I rolled my eyes at him and sat up.
"You deserve it, take the credit you are owed." I said and he pushed me back gently, he pulled the blanket up over me and smoothed it over my lap. He smiled down at me and shook his head as he looked up at the ceiling.
"Stubborn girl." He chided gently and smiled at me again.
"The best kind of girl." I said and pulled him toward me over the safety rail and scooted across the bed to give him room.
"What are you doing, don't strain yourself." He protested as I settled in around him and snuggled under his arm grinning up at him from his shoulder. He sighed and put his arm around me gently and I sighed into his coat and closed my eyes.
"I'm feeling safe." I said and he laughed at me as I dozed again in his arms.