Meanwhile, in his cell, Loki groans to himself once he finally stops pacing at the sound of the chamber door closing behind his brother.
"Something troubling you, brother?" Thor chuckles tauntingly as he steps out of the shadows. Loki turns harshly toward his brother and punches the glass between them.
"What in the Nine Realms is wrong with you?! Why bring her here?!" He snaps, almost snarling as his skin burns one final time as the nerves finish settling back into place from the last remaining sparks of her display of power.
"She's the only one who has ever gotten through to you." Thor explains softly, forcing his brother to collect himself enough to hear his answer. He hated seeing his brother like this, trapped and tormented by yet another person he considered family, but the necessity of it all stung the most. How the boy he grew up with could've done these terrible things was beyond him.
"You and I both know she doesn't belong here amongst these costumed idiots." Loki groans, flipping his hair out of the way as he shifts to sit on his illusion of a throne. Thor groans, shaking his head in annoyance as he sits on the steps outside the cell.
"She belongs with us and you ruined that. Don't punish her because she took Persephone's advice and moved on." He leans against the metal framing of the stairs and watches his brother. "How she ever chose you is beyond me." He sighs under his breath, though part of him wished he had kept that statement to himself the moment it slipped from his lips. He wished he could've saved her himself from the pain his brother had caused her and yet foolishly believed his father's lies about her abandonment. This whole mess weighed heavily on his shoulders. Loki flexes his fists, the flashes of her agony plaguing his mind as he struggles to stay calm. For a moment, he lost himself in his own emotion for the first time in centuries. 'Why did she choose me?' He wondered as he watched his magic play with the scenery.
"How dare you feign ignorance to her suffering? Or are you just that stupid? You were just as much a part of it as I was, if not more." He growls, running a hand through his hair, just as someone else enters the chambers.
"Having a party without me, boys?" She sings, walking up to Thor on the steps. Loki refused to acknowledge her, but she could feel his struggle. This time, his eyes fell on the oversized maroon shirt she wore over a pair of thin black pajama shorts she was given by Natasha. Despite the comfort he was used to being displayed in this realm, he found it oddly soothing that she was able to find her footing so quickly amongst these people after all these years. It reassured a small portion of himself that still worried for her that she would be fine anywhere she found herself wandering and yet he couldn't help but ponder just how soft that cotton would feel brushing over his arm had he been able to tuck his hands under it to touch her Heavenly skin.
"Sergeant Barnes asleep already?" Thor teases as she sits across from him, pulling Loki from his daydream as she ties her hair up in a messy bun.
"Gods no. Natasha and Wanda thought it would be a good idea for the team to bond with me by having a movie night." She smiles, tugging gently at the shirt she wore that no doubt came from her soldier. "Plus, I felt bad for how I left things between him and Captain Rogers. He may be an entitled ass, but he means a great deal to James so the least I can do is try to be nice until he gives me a reason not to be." She explains, looking up at Loki for a moment. In that fleeting moment their eyes met, he could see the pain and regret she held just barely contained underneath. It almost set him ablaze once more to think he was hurting her any more than he already had.
"Forgive me." Thor whispers, taking her hand and squeezing it. She shakes her head and leans into him lovingly, closing her eyes as she rests against his chest in a similar fashion to that of how she used to confide in him in their palace in Asgard.
"You were my family once. I'll do anything for you." She reassures him softly, her eyes meeting the tortured oceans of Loki's once more as he watches them. It broke her to see him so hurt from her presence and yet something in her screamed for him to suffer. She turns away and sighs shakily.
"I was asked to bring some things from Olympus. It seems I may be of use to your team. I-I should go unpack." She excuses herself simply before leaving. Thor recognizes the torment in her tone as she leaves, turning back to his brother.
"It's time you answer for what you've done." He huffs before leaving Loki alone with his thoughts.
"As will you, brother." Loki growls under his breath.
That night, as Bucky slept next to her, she found herself far too awake to rest. Her mind plagued her with what she came to recognize as Loki's trickery as she focused her power on easing Bucky's nightmares.
"Haven't you done enough? Why are you doing this?" She whispers aloud to the night air, shifting positions in hopes of getting comfortable. As if it summoned him to materialize, the illusion of Loki that no doubt haunted her appeared next to her to grip her jaw tight, pulling her upward from her resting place in the Sergeant's sheets.
"You deserve to suffer, little starlight." He grins wickedly, adding a dangerous edge to the gleam in his eye. She bares her fangs, gripping the Asgardian leather he wore, and forces him back into his cell. Under the harsh lighting, she squirms uncomfortably as she realizes in her anger she forgot to put her shorts back on under Bucky's shirt. Rolling her eyes, she embraces the fact that the man in front of her has seen her naked body plenty of times so seeing her legs would be fine.
"Haven't you done enough?" She hums, tilting her head slightly as he paces.
"Obviously not if you're willing to be in my presence, child." He hisses, refusing to meet her gaze.
"You don't actually believe that." She snaps sadly, finally letting him see the pain she was in. She shakes her head slightly as she pulls up the long sleeves of the red Henley she borrowed and crosses her legs properly, taking a seat in his throne. She could've forced the shirt to change into the cream-colored worship gown she wore in Greece as her mind kept pleading with her to do, but a dark part of her liked to know deep inside the cruel beast in front of her was a man aching to feel her silken skin against his once more.
"And why wouldn't I? You don't know me nearly as well as you think, Selene." He growls as he continues pacing along the cell perimeter. She rolls her eyes once more, shoving her power into him enough to bring him to sit on the bench he had placed across from her. She leans forward, drawing his bench closer with a slow methodical motion of her hand.
"I know you better than Odin or Thor ever have." She hisses, her tone cold as her eyes shine with her power. His heart races at the strength within her as she returns the gesture and grips his jaw as she stands above him as the Queen she was meant to be. "Now tell me, Laufeyson. Why are you doing this?" She hisses, pushing her way into his mind. Without a word, Loki's mind welcomed her in like an old friend. Soon she was broken, abused, and under the terrible spell workings of a giant grape-colored gorilla-esque man.
"You must be the Goddess. How sweet. It's a pleasure to meet you, Selene." The man chuckles arrogantly as he reaches for her throat. Before he can touch her, Loki breaks the hold.
"No!" He yells, his voice cracking in agony as his power throws them apart and flickers the lights. She sits up from her place on the ground, finally being permitted to see the shadows of her tormented heart covered in blood, broken glass, and shame. Without much thought, as if she were meant to be by his side in Asgard once more, Selene crawls her way toward him slowly, careful of the glass, and heals him with a thin sheet of smoke.
"You can't tell them." He whispers, gripping her wrist as her hand floated above his heart. Under the tattered shirt he wore, she could faintly see dried blood lines scattered over his heart as if he tried to carve it out of his chest. She snaps her fingers to clean the cell the way he intended and helps him to bed.
"I'll leave that to you." She says softly, nodding her silent promise as she tucks him in under the blankets. His thumb absentmindedly traced the scars hidden under the surface of her wrist. He once offered her soul solace and peace, a place to rest, but now his touch left her just as wounded as her scars.
While she was allowed to see his torment, she hadn't realized the invasion would force him to witness the entirety of hers as well. Despite witnessing a portion of her torture during her display of anger earlier that day, Loki couldn't bring himself to completely relapse back into her open arms. Not that they'd accept him anyway, but nevertheless after centuries of forcing himself to be cruel to her he couldn't find the words to truly sum up just how wrong he had been. She pulls away and nods as her power lowers the lights for him to rest. He had missed her caring nature, but the sadness in her eyes made him want to die knowing it was his fault all over again.
"Rest well." She says softly before vanishing back to her room.
"Doll? There you are." Bucky smiles as he and Thor enter the room. She had never noticed just how responsive she had become to the soldier until his embrace seemed to erase Loki's fingerprints from her skin. She relishes in his heat, cuddling into his chest as he pulls her into his lap.
"What's wrong?" Thor asks softly, bending to her level as she sits with him on the side of the bed.
"He called me Selene." She explains softly, looking up at him. "He hasn't done that since before he left." She breathes, losing herself in the thought. Everything hurt. It was like being hit by a train. On one hand, she could still see the man she once loved in his eyes and wanted to free him, but on the other she wanted to keep him as far from James as possible. She didn't like knowing he was in their room tonight. Nuzzling her head into the curve of his neck, her fingers lace into the hair at the back of his skull left loose under his bun. He smelled like home. He smelled of the ocean after a storm, sandalwood and the same fire and smoke that filled her lungs the day she met him.
"What were you doing down there alone?" Thor asks, pulling her from her thoughts.
"I am not a maiden in need of a chaperone, Thor. Loki needed to be reminded of who I am." She hums softly, eyes lowered to the floor as a part of her grows ashamed of her moment of weakness. Despite being wrapped up in Bucky, he takes her hand and kisses her knuckles, his brotherly love for her deep in his bright eyes. She smiles slightly and hugs him.
"Be careful, Princess. He is still a trickster." He whispers, smoothing her hair comfortingly under Bucky's watchful gaze. She nods into his chest and curls into him as she had when they were growing up in Asgard. With a simple nod to Bucky, he shifts to pick her up from his lap and puts her back to bed behind him. With her soldier on one side and the closest things she's ever come to know as a brother on the other, she had never felt more protected. He smiles widely to himself as he watches her fall back to sleep in his arms.
"Worry not, Sergeant. She is but family." He chuckles faintly as Bucky makes himself a bed on their couch across from the bed.
"I know. She's missed you. I'm glad you're still supportive of her. She doesn't have nearly enough people in her corner anymore." Bucky explains as he stretches before climbing into the makeshift bed. Thor nods, brushing hair from her soft features. As his fingers glide over her silken porcelain, he can't help but lose himself in memories of his time with her. Mentally, he apologized for not seeing her abandonment of them as a lie and coming to see her. He blamed himself for her torment, knowing he could've stopped it all if he had only not been so blind. As if she could sense his unease, she turns into him and grips the thin cotton of his shirt. He gladly holds her closer, humming the Asgardian lullaby Frigg had sung to them millions of times before.
"Believe it or not, Loki wasn't always this hostile." He whispers, breaking himself away from his moment of self-loathing to look up at Bucky lying across from them. The mention of Loki made Bucky visibly uneasy, but he knew that there had to of been something redeemable in him to make his Goddess love such a beast. Then again, as he flexed his metal arm, he saw himself as a monster too.
After several minutes of being stuck in his own head again, which proved to be dangerous without her assistance, Bucky got up and headed toward the practice field. He trusted Thor to care for his beloved Angel while he worked through his own torment. Practicing his aim with both his bullets and his knives, Bucky threw himself into each throw as if it'd relieve his pain.
"Don't let him get in your head." Natasha suddenly calls from the makeshift hills behind him. She joins him in the practice, listening to his metallic joints shift with each throw as if their clicks spoke of his jealousy.
"I can't help it, Nat. You didn't see how broken she looked after he said her name." He growls, stopping to look at her straight on. "Her fucking name. He didn't degrade her for the first time since he abandoned her and it almost shattered her. You can't tell me she doesn't miss that." He huffs, shooting another target without flinching as if showing off. Natasha shakes her head and presses a button to pull all the targets off the field.
"Of course some part of her misses him. They didn't have a clean, mutual break, remember?She didn't get to say goodbye." She reminds him, nudging him. "You replace every good thing she's seen in him."
"You forget, I was there during her introduction and I've seen her with you. You're stuck with that woman now." She reassures him, a slight laugh slipping from her lips. He rolls his eyes and shrugs away from her. She sighs and steps up to him.
"The night we stayed together," She started, gripping his wrist to get his attention as well as keep him from walking away from her. "I could see the adoration she held for you. She's so deeply in love with you, James. Don't push her away now." She says softly as he turns to face her once more.
"It was sex, Natasha, no shit she seemed like she wanted me." He huffs, shaking his head. In a knee-jerk reaction, she slaps him across the face.
"Don't you ever humiliate her like that. I know you're afraid that she could have anyone else or that she'll leave you, but she won't. In case you forgot, I was a part of that threesome and we subconsciously agreed to make it about her. You initiated that, James, and I didn't mind because she's so easy to love. How can you reduce her to the same group of women that will abandon a good thing for something more superficially beneficial?" Natasha growls, getting angrier and angrier as she speaks before sweeping his legs out from under him.
"Whether she wants that monster or not, you better cherish her or I'll take her off both of your hands. That's not a threat, James, that's a promise because she deserves the best just as she's trying to give you while staring at the man who broke her heart. I suggest you get your shit together and remember who she is and why you love her before Loki does." She sighs in annoyance before walking out, fiddling with the knife Selene had given her that night in Russia to calm herself. Bucky laid back on the turf in silence, deciding that he'd have to eradicate any pain Loki had caused her as best he could, even if that meant eliminating every memory the man still claimed within her mind. He sighs, wiping his hand over his face as he sits up. She was his and he wasn't going to let her go without a fight.
"Sergeant Barnes? I'm afraid Miss Selene is in distress and requesting your presence." FRIDAY calls over the coms. Quickly, Bucky jumps up and runs back to his room.
"Jamie." Selene sobs into Thor's chest in a fitful sleep as her nightmares plague her again. Bucky gently takes Thor's place holding her, rubbing her back as he rocks in the bed. She clings to him as her mind replays all of her torment, crying into his chest.
"Don't leave me." She pleads with him faintly, her nails tearing holes into his shirt as she fights to pull him even closer.
"It's alright, sugar, I'm not going anywhere." He promises reassuringly in a whisper, kissing her hair as his metallic fingers trace her arm. Thor climbs into the makeshift bed on the couch, not wanting to leave her side just yet.
The next morning, Thor managed to convince Steve to pardon the estranged couple from the daily training session. Instead, Bucky stayed in bed curled up with Selene too afraid to let her go. As she feared he'd evaporate if she were to release him, forcing her to realize that the most passion she's felt for life in the last hundred years was fake, he worried about his competition with the monster floors below. He watches her angelic features relax as she finally gives in to the peaceful rest she deserves, tracing the faint rope burn scar around her throat. As his metallic thumb brushed against the hidden rash, he could almost see the ropes of the witch hunts tightening around her porcelain windpipe. She could choose which scars to expose despite her healing ability, but once told him that she'd allow the entire world to see how broken his little China doll was in hopes that it'd help him realize just how perfect he was to her. Scars and all. With that thought he flexes his prosthetic, tracing the protective runes she taught him over her hip and up her ribs as he hums her favorite Latin lullaby. He smiles to himself at the memory of his siren soothing him with the haunting ballad while away on missions.
"Jamie?" She whispers, her fingers sliding up his chest to fumble sleepily over his stubble. He smiles and kisses her palm.
"I'm here, Sugar. Don't worry. You can rest." He nods, pulling the comforter over her snuggly. She smiles genuinely, humming with satisfaction as she nuzzles into the side of his neck, lacing her fingers through his metallic ones. Slowly a faint mist seeps into the cracks of his armored appendage until he can feel her pulse radiating through it. He sighs with contentment as he draws their hands up to his chest and kisses her knuckles.
"I love you, Goddess." He hums into her hair as he settles into his spot once more.
"I love you so much more, Sergeant." She yawns, shifting just enough to kiss him sleepily.
Down below, however, Loki was haunted by the images of her torture. He stayed stone-faced for the Avengers he knew no doubt were watching him, but in his head, he screamed in agony for her. At the time, he was only made aware of what was beneficial to use against him by his father, but seeing just how much she suffered through her own eyes was almost too much to bear. While he disassociates, staring into the pages of his book, he worms himself into her dreams as she rests above him.
She dreamt peacefully of her time in Greece. He watched secretly for a moment as she waded through the slow current of the shore she adored. He listened to her sing to the tune of the bustling village in the distance, making his way toward her.
"I miss this." She hums contently, closing her eyes as she lifts her chin to bask in her father's warm rays just as that insolent mortal soldier of hers steps up behind her to hold her in his place. He silently watches her, mesmerized by the joy that radiated from her just as he had remembered. It broke him further to wonder if she had felt that joy since he shattered her. With that, he retreated from her oasis deciding he had done enough to her for the time being, the least he could do was ensure a restful sleep. Clearing the painful lump in his throat, he shifts to wipe a lonely tear from his cheek.
"Leave her be, Loki." Thor sighs in that scorning monotone he adapted from their father. Loki forces himself to roll his eyes as if he had no idea what his brother had been referencing before standing to meet him at the glass barrier of his cell.
"She's recovering with Sergeant Barnes. I know she came to you last night but I'm begging you if you care for her at all you'll let her rest." He continues, his eyes sparking with lightning behind his anger.
"You brought her to me." Loki chuckles mockingly, stepping even more so into the light as a chair appears next to him.
"Yes and that's continuing to be a mistake I'll have to rectify with her soon, but I know your games. I know you'll torture her more and I'm here to plead on the side of yourself that loved her to leave her be." Thor sighs emotionlessly as Loki lounges.
"I have not tortured her!" Loki snaps, jumping from his resting place and punching the glass. He snarls like a rabid animal, crouching to meet his brother's eye level equally.
"She is alive because of me." He growls, his rage shifting quickly with the sound of the chamber doors sliding open.
"If I thanked you, would you enjoy the sentiment and let me rest?" Selene asks in a low monotone they both recognized as her trying to hide her shameful emotions. "It doesn't take a God to know that choosing to stand to the side of abuse is just as bad as participating." She lowers her eyes to his shadow, allowing herself to feel pain for him once more briefly before lifting her head to acknowledge Thor.
"Thor, I'm afraid your friends have requested for us to continue their training routine. Would you join me? I'd like to challenge myself with the best sparring partner I've ever had." She forces herself to smile kindly, ignoring Loki's presence. The lack of true emotion behind the gesture made Thor shiver with gilt just as the tension of her ignorance toward Loki seemed to physically wound him.
"And here I thought I gave you a run for your money." Bucky teases from the doorway with a chuckle. She smiles wider, genuine happiness flooding her tense muscles once again as she ties up her long ebony hair.
"Oh, you did, my darling. You just needed Hydra to starve me." She teases him back with a wink, watching as her gown slowly shifts into matching black leggings and a long-sleeved crop top under the guise of her black cloud. Where the v-neck center was printed red for Natasha, her's was printed a beautiful ocean teal that matched stripes down the seams of her leggings. Bucky chuckles cockily, nodding as if her taunt was a challenge. His steel blue eyes flicker toward the motionless God in the cage behind her for a moment wondering how such a warm heart could love that creature. That again rose doubt within him, forcing him to stiffen as his eyes lowered to the shadows just as hers had. She steps up to him and lifts his chin gently, suddenly serious with the obvious change in him .
"Stay with me, Sergeant." She breathes, her eyes glowing as her fingers slip from their place under his chin down to the center of his chest. It was obvious to both Loki and Thor that they anchored each other to this plane of existence. That realization stunned Loki. He knew his absence and the terrible things that had transpired in the decades to follow had hurt her but how could she have given up on him? It was then that his own words haunted him.
"I want nothing to do with you." He remembered snarling in a forced act of disgust. In the moment he knew she understood Odin had been behind the sudden change of heart, but now as he watched her with this mortal he questioned even that. For the first time since abandoning her, he allowed himself to feel lonely in a room full of people. The pain behind that wasn't easy to hide even for him and as they cleared out for training, she lowers her eyes once more.
"Rest well, Frost Giant." She sighs sadly before exiting the chambers. The deafening silence maddened him. He grew breathless and collapsed into his makeshift throne. In that moment of disparity, he made up his mind to find a way to make every moment he spent away from her up. He would have her back if it was to be his dying wish.