Later that evening, Selene found herself sitting outside the chamber doors in silence. Her heart pounds in her ears as her breath shakes despite her actively trying to regain control.
"You're safe on this side of the glass." Thor hums softly in that brotherly tone that normally would've eased her racing mind. She shakes her head slightly before looking up at him with pain in her eyes.
"Is it wrong of me to not want to be separated by this cage of his?" She asks timidly, searching his body language for a truthful answer. He touches her cheek and sighs. His eyes were filled with regret and yet understanding
"Despite everything he's done, I understand that this must be hard for you. I apologize for reopening old wounds like this, but please know I truly am grateful for everything you can do for my friends and I." He offers her a solemn smile. She bows her head, struggling with the feeling of betrayal toward her beloved James at merely the thought of her time with Loki. Thor lifts her chin.
"I'm sure Sergeant Barnes knows very well where your loyalty lies." He reassured her before leaving her to her thoughts once more. This time, she gave in and lets herself into his cage. With his back to her spot by the stairs, she made her way across the threshold to sit on his throne. She leaned into her knees, flexing her fingers anxiously as she disassociates from reality into her thoughts.
"Despite everything, I wish I could free you." She breathes shallowly to herself absentmindedly. She didn't care that the cameras would catch her not-so-inner monologue. She stiffens as the painful memories build a sharp lump in her throat.
"Despite the rage you display to others, I know you." She continues, looking up at his sleeping form.
"You were my everything, once. My King of the Stars." She smiles half-heartedly at the memory until her heart seems to pulse sharply through shattered glass. She could hardly take it anymore but forced herself to face it.
"Odin was never fond of me and for that, I apologize." She hums through staggered breaths.
"I've never been ashamed of my lineage, but maybe if I had stayed away he would've loved you the way you deserved. Maybe he would've treated you as he did Thor." She fidgets in her seat to fight her tears but they were far too strong. Finally, she breaks, covering her mouth to stay quiet.
"You'd love James." She finally spoke after a long moment of silence, more so to the portion of him that still reminded her of happier days.
"He is everything you had ever been for me." She breathes, her tone quivering with sorrow and regret, looking up at him. She couldn't take it anymore. She tries to force herself from the cage once again before her agony erupts from her but can't focus enough. She wails in pain, sobbing on her knees as his shadow consumes her. She can't bring herself to raise her head to look at him. Instead, she bows her head below the line of her shoulders like a frightened wolf and lets her sobs wrack through her. He kneels in front of her, sliding his cool fingers down between her shoulder blades.
"Selene, I need you to control your breathing. Thor will kill me if you pass out again." He hums softly, letting the vibrations ease her. She struggles to do so, instinctively leaning into him. Finally, he shifts to pull her into his chest. The contact shattered her. She clings to him, wanting so badly to pull her darling King from this shadowed version. Instead, her power forces her to relive his point of view of his time without her. Her system couldn't handle the truth. Her rage is what kept her alive, or so she thought. With that, her staggered breathing slows as she passes out. Loki cradled her protectively as the chamber swarmed with officers and costumed heroes.
"Give her to me, brother." Thor growls from the door under the watchful gaze of her beloved Sergeant. It was then that Loki knew he'd never be permitted her solitary company again. He sighs, forcing himself to keep her best interest in mind as his lips press against her forehead.
"Rest well, Starlight." He whispers before releasing her to his brother. He numbly watched as Thor carried her out of the chamber despite the disgusted glares he earned from his friends. He could almost see the torture her Sergeant wanted so badly to inflict on him for merely being in her presence. He chuckles to himself and shakes his head in disbelief.
"She's right. You are my shadow." He smirks wickedly, watching him squirm uncomfortably before stalking off after his Queen.
He wasn't sure how much time he had lost in his thoughts, but once those familiar wails of pain and fear reached his cage Loki knew something was wrong.
"You're a fool." She hisses just as he forces an apparition into the shadows behind her. Her knuckles were white with rage, clenching her teeth in anguish and disgust at the man Loki saw as his brother. He steps toward her, accompanied by her soldier, tense and threatening, summoning his mighty hammer just as her power darkens the room. She rips it from midair and shoves the stone mallet into his broad chest plate in a show of dominance.
"Save your excuses, Thor." She almost spits venom as her heels clack against the marble ominously toward him. She was far from the friend he held in his brother's cell just hours ago. The rage inside her forced her confidence to the surface like a soulless shield. "I love you, my friend, I always have but your father is nothing but a tyrant looking for his next example to be displayed." Loki takes note of the ribbons of black smoke around James' ankles, tethering him in place away from the windows for safety. He hadn't seen this level of outright rage in her since leaving Asgard. Admittedly, it excites him just as much as it terrifies him to imagine being on the receiving end of her full force. Thor huffs in disbelief as the sky darkens outside the tower.
"My father loved you." He growls. Loki himself knew that was a lie. Despite how much Frigga tried to include her, Odin never saw her as much more than a necessary evil to gain the alliance he needed with her family. It was what he was good at.
"No, your father saw me as a convenience. He needed my mother, Athena, and Ares. I was merely there to keep his children out of the palace while he waged war on other realms." She snaps, letting her accent lace her words. Loki was proud of her, but knew this wasn't going to end well. Part of him wanted to stop her before she said something she'd regret, but he knew not only was Thor unable to hold a grudge against her but that she needed to free herself from this weight.
"Short of a boy taken from his own Kingdom to be used as leverage, I was never loved by anyone in that kingdom. How dare you." She steps back as if the words that he spewed physically hurt her, tears straining her vision despite her eyes glowing. Thor softens slightly and shakes his head.
"Loki and I…" He begins in a hushed tone, but she refuses to let him finish.
"You never stood up for me. You were and always will be blinded by Odin's title, enough to watch him take the man I loved from me. It wasn't enough that he banished us to Midgard to keep me from his precious kingdom. It wasn't enough that I trained some of his best warriors or that my family helped him win his stupid wars." She snaps, shoving him back toward Loki's apparition near the window and James as the tears fall.
"The Allfather hates me so much he fed you lies of my betrayal and gave Loki no choice but to break me." She towers over him despite her pain. He wanted to hold her as her pale complexion reddens under the strain of control.
"You were my brother! You let him break me!" She roars, her heels slamming into the marble flooring hard enough to crack it under the weight of her power causing the windows behind him to shatter. She relishes in the glass and whipping winds of the impending storm outside before stepping up to him.
"Tell me you didn't know. Tell me it's just another cruel trick of Loki's. Odin kept my torture hidden from you, right." She begs him, her anger breaking for a moment as she tilts her head, hoping he'd correct what she had seen from Loki's point of view. When his eyes fell, her heart broke further. "Your loving father used Huggin and Munnin to hunt me down and gave those men what they needed to tear me apart."She snarls, pushing him toward the frames of razor-edged glass.
"I was burned multiple times, torn apart, and hanged all because I dared to be more of a constant in his life than he bargained for. Gaia forbid a Grecian fall in love with the boy he kidnapped." She explains as the burns up her arms swirled with the fires of the witch hunts in deadly vines as the scars her body had long since healed resurfaced under her power. Bucky's eyes glaze over knowing those scars and trauma were built upon as she endured his torment as well. He shifts slightly next to Steve who had come at the sound of the imploding windows to reach for her as he often did when she was in pain, but she had had enough. She forces everyone but Thor to stay put, her eyes dulling in a silent apology for only a moment before hardening once again.
"Shall I tell your team what they want to know so badly? That your glorious King gave the militias throughout Europe the nudge they needed to hunt me down and try their best to murder me? Or how he influenced the Priest's decision in making me watch as my husband and daughter were murdered knowing that my screams of pain fell on deaf ears and would unlock a darkness in me that would disgust any man who dared to love me next." She growls, eyes briefly shifting toward Bucky with sorrow as her body responds to the notion with the elongation of her fangs.
"She was two, Thor! He could've taken me, tortured me like Hydra had for a millennia to come but instead, he made my baby watch her father be beaten and scalped by the villagers she trusted out of fear of the savage they labeled him as before turning on her." She whimpers for her lost family, shaking at the memory before snarling like a wild animal as she grabs his armor and tosses him out the window knowing very well he'd adapt to the fall.
"He could've left Falcon and Regina alone. He could've taken me." She whispers into the roaring winds before her agony explodes into the magma blazing under her skin like the gold of a previously shattered Japanese sculpture painstakingly pieced back together.
"And let's not forget he forced your brother to watch." She reveals the truth behind what she had witnessed through Loki's memories. "He wanted to come for me! He wanted to save me but you two talked him out of it and took his ability! He knew Odin had lied to you but Gaia forbid he let down Asgard's shining achievement." She growls, throwing all of her weight into a single punch to his jaw as he resurfaced to the tower. Even the apparition of Loki flinched. "So excuse me if I do not kneel before you or your King, my Prince, but my agony does not simply end with your brother's abandonment. You are no better than he is." She sighs in disgust. For a moment she seemed to acknowledge the apparition before releasing James and his friends from her restraints. She raises her hand in a silent protest as he lunges for her in concern. He nods, recognizing the torment in her manifesting in her fear of harming him. She vanished in a cloud just as she had appeared upon summoning. Somehow she felt more broken now than she had in Greece.
"Ellie wait!" James calls after her as the chamber doors to the holding cells open before her. Loki, now whole, watches as the cool air mists off her molten skin as her chest heaves. Her eyes were wild as she struggles to control herself, ignoring the grumbled voices that filled the room as she makes her way toward his cage. For the first time in hundreds of years, she was transparent. Every ounce of pain as well as the arguments she had within herself were written on her porcelain skin.
"Sweetheart, please." James whispers, cutting in front of Fury at the head of the group to grab her hand. She stops in her tracks, caught between the soldier she came to love and the truth behind her darkest moments, and flinches out of fear of what she might do to him. Loki growls lowly, punching the glass to frighten the nearest Avengers away from her. She eyes the metal hand she held, terrified it'd melt with how unstable she had become with this realization. She whines like a wounded animal, stepping away from him.
"I-I have to go, Zima." She whimpers, tears streaming down her face as she steps back toward the platform of Loki's cage.
"No, you don't, baby. I'm right here. We've been through worse, I can get you through this too." He tries to reassure her, reaching for her again. She puts her hands over her heart as if it'd help redirect her power inward and away from him as she shakes her head ultimately.
"I-I don't want to hurt you, my love." She tries to reason with him. He steps closer, alongside Steve, but his need to protect his old friend seems to trigger something in her. She flinched again, throwing her power outward subconsciously. It doesn't register she's even let out a burst until James and Steve are forced to their knees with a muffled groan. She stumbles in front of James, physically hurt by the sound she caused, and reaches for him.
"I-I'm scared I won't be able to keep Hydra's monster at bay if I don't go now." She cries to him, struggling not to touch him despite needing him so badly. It broke Loki to see the woman who was once his Queen so easily broken for a man nowhere near worthy of her. James pushes against her power to show her he would do anything for her, but it only wounded her more to know this is what she had come to.
"You aren't the Angel anymore, Selene. You're mine. Stay with me." He pleads with her, using the moniker Hydra gave her. She softens as the lights flicker above them, her heart screaming for her to let him in. "I'll always come for you, my love." She reminds him softly of their promise to each other, leaning into him. As gently as she could muster despite the war within her, she kisses him and nuzzles her face into the curve of his neck. His scent seemed to calm her nerves slowly as the power shuts down to the tower.
"I love you." She whispers only loud enough for him to hear, placing a longing kiss on his pulse before pulling away completely. Guards bang on the door outside as her power consumes the remaining heroes to the sound of Loki's cage door being unlocked. As the generators fight against her power, flickering the room with a haunting red glow, Loki appears behind her. He helps her stand before the team, using his own green-misted magic to ease her nerves further into a false sense of security.
"Take me home." She commands, using her mist to shield them as she releases her hold on the tower and its occupants. Bullets bounce off it as Loki forces them to disappear from the chambers.
"Buck?" Steve waves to get his friend's attention after the room clears in a boom of commands and disembodied orders. His eyes fall to the place in front of him where she last stood.
"She needs me." He whispers to himself before letting out a feral grunt as he tenses and leaves the room. The tension within him ignited something in him. He may not have been activated as the Winter Soldier, but his sense of a mission in need of completion was just as strong. In that moment, her disappearing was just as potent as saying those damned words.
In Greece, Selene sat on the shore under the bright luminescence of her mother's stars in silence. She knew with her actions she'd never be trusted by James' friends again, but that didn't matter to her nearly as much as the thought of her soldier. She had to protect him. She hadn't felt that unstable in quite some time, but despite not wanting to bring harm to the man she loved, she feared his own trauma wouldn't see her actions as so selfless.
"You truly love him." Loki sighs almost sadly as he finally joins her in the sand.
"He's everything to me." She whispers absentmindedly to herself, lost in her thoughts. She felt guilty for a moment after realizing how she spoke of Bucky to Loki but looks up at the stars as her mind continues to race. Why shouldn't she speak lovingly of the man who helped her see her worth again? James deserved every compliment she could muster.
"From the moment I met you, you've found a way to get whatever you wanted. Until I was on the line." She sighs, lying back as the warm waters dampen her feet.
"I couldn't, you know that now. I would've done anything for you, but…" Loki tries to justify himself, squeezing her hand in reassurance before she cuts him off.
"That's the point. You didn't do anything. You found out you weren't merely adopted and that Odin feared your magic so you gave up." She explains vaguely, her tone very dry as the sadness of the reality of it all sinks in.
"You would've risked everything, even your own life for anything you thought would've made Odin approve of your existence, but me. I've always been a disappointment to you Asgardians and I hate myself for not realizing it sooner." She sits up, grabbing a stone from the sand, and throws it hard into the lulling current. Her heart skips painfully as if breaking inside her chest as everything comes crashing down around her all over again.
"Ellie, I tried to save you. I-I sent you Falcon. He was supposed to keep you safe." He hums as if it'd release her suffering. She turns quickly and closes her fist at her side as tears burn her now sensitive skin, using her power to take the very sound from his voice.
"Keep his name out of your mouth!" She roars, causing the waves to respond to her anger in booming crashes against the jagged rocks. He steps back slightly, holding his throat as he takes in just how broken she is because of his family.
"Falcon did his best." She growls, her bottom lip trembling. "You could've at least saved my baby. She did nothing to any of you." She sobs, her hand absentmindedly holding her stomach as if Regina was once again safe in her womb.
"You're just as selfish as your father." She cries, regretting freeing him as the loneliness consumes her. Her heart screamed for her soldier as the angry waters rush up the shore to offer some sort of splice in wrapping around her ankles.
"He's not my father!" He growls once her magic fades from his vocal cords. She stiffens and turns to him ominously.
"And yet you act just like him. Tell me, if I had stayed by your side blindly as Frigga had, would you have loved me then? Would I have been enough then to truly protect?" She wipes her eyes and walks off toward the ruins. Loki couldn't breathe at the sharpness of her words. While realizing he had wanted to come for her put her heart at ease, for the time being, her mind was now processing his truth. Once she was out of the picture, he had nothing to fight for but himself. He hoped each person he sent into her path all those years would defend her as he dreamt of doing so himself, but each time Odin tracked his magic and set it ablaze. As she walks toward the ruins of Athena's temple, he could hear her humming the Latin lullaby she had sung to Regina in Salem, and as if on queue his memories betrayed his facade.
"I hope you're happy, wherever Asgard may find you, my love." She had once prayed to him while walking through the woods surrounding her husband's village.
"My only request is that you see Regina as an extension of myself. While a part of me will always see her as what should have been yours, please understand I can not allow the Allfather to destroy my dreams." She whispers, running her hand over the thin cotton gown covering her plump womb. She smiles at the thought of her child being Loki's as they had discussed but stops to look up at the moon as if she'd find him there.
"May your tricks protect her." She sighs softly, tiredly before humming the lullaby once more as she makes her way back to her home in the village.
Days or maybe even weeks later, the time had once again been lost to him, he found himself sitting on the edge of a cliff overlooking the wild ocean that was an attachment to his beloved Selene. He left her to work in the village as she had centuries ago, enjoying the dreamy smile that encompassed her features as she took to cooking and caring for the young ones again. It was almost as if Olympus hadn't been disguised to the mortals at all. He lies in the lush grass, allowing his legs to dangle from the edge as they had done in their youth while planning out what would become of their lives together, and exhales slowly.
"Why am I permitted to live?" He whispers to the open air, reaching up toward the stars to trace the constellations. Before he knew it, a thick sheet of darkness almost blinded him.
"She should've ended you long ago, Laufeyson." A smooth, haunting voice echoes over the combination of the music in the distance and the ever-crashing waves. He sits up to meet the voice and tenses roughly. Before him stood the very night herself, Lady Nyx, in her terrifyingly colorless glory. Just as clouds of pure black smoke seemed to ripple from the edges of her silver-dusted pitch black gown, he could feel her hatred for him emanate. Her ghostly pale skin shines like her daughter's under the magnificent light of her crescent crown elegantly placed upon her thick ebony tresses.
"To answer your question, Trickster, why breath remains in your chest I'll never quite understand her decision, but I will say you don't deserve it." She stalks toward him slowly, watching him as she had every God that dared tempt her ire.
"But I did not come here merely to discuss your pitiful existence." She sighs almost as if she were bored, her silver irises glaring daggers into his very soul once she has him backed onto the edge of the cliff.
"Once more, you're far too self-absorbed to take note of anything around you. Tell me, how is my little girl? Is she well?" She mocks him, tilting her head knowingly as if daring him to lie to her.
"She hasn't been well for quite some time, Nyx, but yes blame your daughter's trauma on me when Helios witnessed her torture. Why not save her yourselves?" He growls, pushing his luck. She laughs and grips his shirt, throwing him off the cliff and letting him dangle by her hand.
"We aren't permitted to interfere. You aren't that stupid, are you?" She huffs, shifting to jerk as if she'd let him fall. His fearful reaction caused her to laugh as she pulls him back up.
"Before you decide to run your mouth much more than I care to allow, know that my darling is in danger from herself once more. I'm afraid she's disgusted with her cravings again after coming to the conclusion that she is unworthy of the man she foolishly left behind and is distracting herself from her needs as well as avoiding her reflection. If you do not help her this time, I will ensure every night for the rest of your life is spent in agony." She explains in the same excruciating riddles as his father. He rolls his eyes at the awful similarities the two pantheons held.
"Her reflection? What does her reflection have to do with her mental stability?" He almost laughs at her sincerity. Nyx chuckles dangerously, stepping closer.
"You've only seen glimpses into her torment. I'm afraid her self-hatred is manifesting in her reflection again. A side effect of the temporary psychosis Hydra forced her into. It degrades her and makes her relive her time in that Siberian dungeon." She elaborates, her features softening with her concern for her child.
"I'd bring Sergeant Barnes to her, but we both know she won't admit to any ailments around him." She sighs, rubbing her temples in frustration.
"Oh, and she will around me after hundreds of years?" He snaps. She laughs mockingly and shakes her head.
"Oh no, I know she won't. She'll most likely fight that as well but at least when her hunger gets to be too much or her power becomes uncontrollable again, she won't have to worry about hurting someone who loves her." She smirks before vanishing into a cloud of smoke so thick it almost choked him. The notion brought about another haunting laugh in the air as it dissipates.
After a long moment of silence, Loki begrudgingly finds his tormented Queen dancing in the streets of her beloved city. The air was filled with music and the scent of spices and bread. It brought him back to a much happier time for them, but the lump in his throat wouldn't allow him to fully enjoy it. He chuckles faintly to himself at the faint whispers of the moon returning home and how radiant she truly was. They had no idea just how brightly his darling could outshine any light this universe had to offer.
"Loki!" Her voice breaks through his train of thought as she breathlessly steps up to him. "I'm so glad you're here. Dance with me." She smiles. Her eyes were glazed over as if in a daze as she lifts the edge of her red floor-length skirt and twirls with some of the neighboring children. He couldn't bring himself to move out of fear of ruining the moment as he watches her lose herself in the love she would always hold for her city. In a moment of weakness, Loki pulls her close and dances with her. In the back of his mind, he knew he was feeding her illness but the feel of her body close to his again in such a peaceful manner almost made him not care. It wasn't until a child trips over a loose cobblestone and skins their knee that she goes ridged. Smoothly she picks up the crying infant and cleans their wound next to their mother's store before sending them in to receive more appropriate care from their parents. Despite wanting to believe she was whole, something in her eyes screamed for help as she stands. He watches as the scent of blood flashes silver ribbons of hunger in her eyes, shaking his head when she forces it back to continue her joyous reunion as if nothing happened. He sighs regretfully and takes her hand.
"You've been away for quite some time, darling. I think it's time you rest." He hums in her ear, taking note of how her body melted all over again to his tone. It almost made him happy to witness such a reaction, but he knew it wouldn't last. He had to stop being selfish with her. Damn the rest of the world, but he had to be different for her. With that, a yawn escaped her forcing her to lean back into him. He smiles to himself, leaning down to sweep her up off her feet and make their way back to the reanimated ruins she called home.
"Thank you, Bucky." She sleepily mumbles to herself as she finally gives in to his persuasive tricks. It hurt to hear her call for him, even in her sleep. How could he mean so much more to her than he did?
"Brother!" Thor's voice booms behind a single bolt of lightning radiating through the ruins just moments after Loki was able to tuck Selene into bed.
"If you wake her, I'll not hide my attempt to stab you this time." He growls, referring to the beloved memory of his shifting into a snake to stab Thor as a child.
"Quiet your empty threats, brother, where is she?" He huffs, stalking toward Loki. Over his shoulder stood a distraught James. His hair was much shorter now, possibly due to not knowing when his beloved partner would be back to run her fingers through it, just as his entire physique seemed tense. He was almost cold as he glared at Loki evenly with his newly onyx and gold-polished metallic arm sitting crossed within the fleshy appendage opposite it across his chest.
"What use is that information to either of you?" He chuckles mockingly as he mimics James' angry stance. He starts growling Russian threats as he storms through the rooms of the reanimated stone walls until her tired voice hums through the air.
"Jamie? Wh-what are you doing here? What happened to you?" She gasps, finding it hard to breathe as she touches the healing bruise on his jaw. He had cut his hair short, no longer sporting the shoulder-length hair he grew in Hydra, and his silver weaponized arm was now black with gold detailing. Hydra had finally left her soldier and she wasn't there to witness it. James' eyes lowered to her hands where he noticed they were shaking, ringing her skirt for control. He mistakes it for being nervous about his appearance and squeezes them.
"You've been gone for weeks, sweetheart. I-I couldn't take it anymore." He explains vaguely. "I had no one to help me with my hair. I hope you don't mind." He teases, running his metallic fingers through it. She knew he could've asked Natasha to help braid his hair or pull it back into a bun, but he preferred for her to be the one to do it. Something about it relaxed him before a mission. She stiffens, not realizing she had been away for so long and throws herself into him to hug him. This proves to be a mistake when old wounds reopen causing her throat to burn.
"L-Loki." She whimpers, pulling away from James. Hearing his name in such a tone broke something deep within James. He could see her struggling and wanted nothing more than to be what she needed. Was this her choosing Loki over him? Her mental state made her seem childlike. Loki sighs sadly and pulls her close under the watchful gaze of both his brother and her broken soldier.
"Easy, love. You haven't fed in quite some time. You're hungry." He whispers, pulling a blade from his sleeve. She jerks back and shakes her head, fear widening her eyes.
"No, no, I-I'm fine. I-I don't need that. I'm okay." She stammers through a false promise. Her eyes found Bucky's instinctively, begging him to reassure her she was safe. She bites the inside of her cheek as the panic wells in her chest. "Jamie." She squeaks just barely audible to the world as her nails prick into her palms.
"You've let her starve?! No wonder she's so confused!" James growls, stepping toward her. She steps back, pulling away from both men, shaking and pleading with him to stop.
"J-Jamie, please. I-I can't hurt you too." She whimpers.
"You won't, you'll take it from me." Loki interjects before James had a chance to comfort her. He growls warningly at the God, but flinches as he hands her his blade. Thor had never seen her so fragile and yet almost rabid.
"Baby, I need you to trust me." James whispers, pulling up his sleeve for her. Despite the thought of Loki's blood running like cool water down the back of her throat, her body screamed for James. She struggles not to reach for him, but he makes the decision for her and pulls her close by her hip.
"I heal quickly, you know that. We've done this many times. I need you to trust me. Can you do that for me, my Angel?" He speaks so delicately it was almost as if he was worried his breath would force her porcelain skin to crack when he touched her face, using the dark nickname in an effort to reclaim it. She leans into his icy, metallic touch and nods with tears in her eyes.
"Forgive me." She whispers, taking his hand.
"There's nothing to forgive." He nods, repeating himself as he always did when he had to feed her like this in front of people, as she turns to curl into him and pull his offered wrist to her lips. She kisses it lovingly as if in apology before her fangs elongate and pierces his skin. He groans, pressing his steel fingertips into her hip roughly as her power floods him to combat the pain. He tucks his face into her neck to hide the erotic sensation that flooded him with each passing moment. She moans against his flesh in an animalistic satisfaction as his blood chases away her torment. Her eyes shine in the ballroom of the temple as the voices slowly fade. With each passing second, she found herself freed more and more from the demons within her own mind. She laces her fingers through his over the back of his hand as she finishes and licks the wound clean to allow it to heal. He balances himself against her, both slightly woozy and hiding his excitement from the action pressed into her backside, kissing her shoulder as she tucks his wounded wrist against the warm flesh of her chest.
"Don't ever leave me again." He whispers into her hair. She smiles over her shoulder, licking the blood slowly from her lips and teeth in possibly the most erotic motion Loki had ever seen, before kissing him.
"I'm sorry, my love. I worry about hurting you, but forget you're far stronger than I am." She smiles, cuddling into his chest to trace over the gold accents on his new arm. Thor shifts, motioning for Selene to take his hand.
"Shall we, Princess?" He smiles fondly, hope deep in his eyes as if nothing had happened. She shakes her head, stepping in front of James protectively.
"I'm home, Thor. I am where I'm supposed to be." She explains firmly, looking at his hand in disgust.
"I won't let your mortals imprison me. I sure as Hades won't let them harm James for coming for me." She huffs as the thought consumes her, forcing a thick storm cloud to form around Thor's feet.
"Selene, stop this!" He roars over the distant sound of crashing waves, lunging to grab her. James wraps his weaponized appendage around her waist to pull her into his chest as Loki guards her with his blade.
"Don't touch her." They growl together, resisting the urge to look at each other to confirm the odd sensation of agreement amongst them as they stand their ground for her.
"What about Captain Rogers, Sergeant?" He sighs, knowing he stooped low in hopes of triggering some sort of a reaction from him.
"Captain Rogers didn't comfort him. I did." She roars, shoving him backward with a gust of power and the fire from her veins. "I will not be treated as a sideshow attraction again. Least of all for your friends, little Prince." The idea seemed to trigger something in her that terrified both men who defended her. Bucky steps up behind her, wrapping his arms around her tightly and nuzzling into her neck. He hums softly against her skin under Loki's disgusted gaze as his warmth and love seemed to calm her slowly.
"I won't let them hurt you." He breathes, his voice low and deep with an air of possession as he squeezes her into him. After a long moment of contemplation, she whines softly and nods, looking over her shoulder at him.
"As you wish, my love." She says softly, her eyes far too dull for Loki's liking. She knew this wouldn't end well and no matter how much she wanted to trust the man she tried to replace him with, Loki could sense her hesitation.
As expected, the four were welcomed by a swarm of armed guards before being ripped away from each other.
"Thor! Do something!" Bucky calls, thrashing against the guards that pushed him back toward Steve. Selene flinches at the cold, rough touch of their armored gloves, closing her eyes tight to contain her magic as memories from Hydra come rushing forward as she expected. Simultaneously, Loki and Bucky fight through the hoard of guards toward her despite Steve trying to restrain his friend while the remaining guards fumble to gain control over Loki. As Bucky grips her wrist between the guards, Loki points his daggers at the nearest few to prevent them from getting any closer to her. She opens her eyes and tilts her head, looking up at Bucky as she laces her fingers through his.
"Don't fight them, my love." She whispers, tears burning her eyes as he's forced from her, the click of power-limiting cuffs strapped around her wrists deafening as Loki pulls her into his chest.
"You're giving up?" He growls, the rage within him building at the sight of her tears, his blood boiling as they lock a shock collar around her neck.
"I have to protect him, Loki. I've already missed so much time with him." She bites the inside of her cheek to steady her voice. "This is my fault. I-I panicked." She begins to crumble, turning to brush her fingers across his jaw apologetically. "Forgive me." She breathes as the tears finally fall at the realization that she fed him to these people sets in just as the guards haul her away.
"Selene!" The two men call after them, glaring at each other for agreeing yet again for only a moment before turning their rage onto Thor. Bucky, being the more free moving of the two, takes Steve's shield and hurls it at his head. Stunned and rather impressed with his aim, Loki chuckles to himself.
"You said they agreed to bring her back safely." He growls, thrashing as Steve and Sam pull him back from the mourning God.
"She released a murderer, Buck. Shield is only doing what's best for-" Natasha speaks up, reaching for him to comfort him when he pulls out of everyone's reach as if their very presence burned his skin.
"They didn't hurt anyone in Greece, Natasha. You and I both know your precious Shield is only going to trigger something in her by treating her this way and I can't help you when she comes for you." He growls, looking at Loki for just a moment. Despite the hurricane of emotion within him, Loki stayed quiet almost submissively as the guards dragged him away too just to be thrown into a cell across from hers.