Here is the next chapter, and all I have to say; VOTE ON THE RING PLEASE AND THANK YOU!
:)
Previously
He looks at the ring for a long moment, his other hand to touch it. Her breath hitches, causing his gaze to break away from the ring and back to her green eyes. All Isabella sees is the blue overtaking his entire eyes before disappearing. In love-filled voice, he says, "Mi florecita*."
He falls to the floor, unconscious.
Chapter 16
Loki wakes to the feeling of a cool cloth running against his face carefully. Not wanting to open his eyes as he feels strangely exhausted and as if he was torn to pieces before being put together in a temporary fix. Using his state of awareness to determine what hurts the most, he discovers that his feet and hands are chained to a bed.
"Loki, I know you're awake. Your breathing is different. There's no one here but you and I. Can you open your eyes for me?" His flower's voice says in his ear as she finishes with the cool cloth. "I get you out of the chains if you feel up to it."
He cracks open an eye which closes immediately upon exposure to the lights, but he opens them a little while later as Isabella gets him out of the chains. Loki immediately pulls her into his arms and holds her tight, noticing she is slightly thinner than she was when he left and gave her the ring. She holds him just as tightly, burying her face in his neck, breathing his scent in deeply.
"I missed you." Isa says in a voice that is struggling to hold back tears and desperate to keep him with her until everything is alright. "You were gone for so long and I missed you the whole time. I don't ever want to be away from you for so long again, okay?"
Loki hugs her even tighter and nods, pressing his cheek into her hair and replying in a calming yet equally desperate voice, "I missed you too, and I had to, you have too believe me. They would have come looking for you if I didn't leave, please forgive me. We'll never have to stay apart for that long, you have my word on that."
His little girlfriend's body trembles when she hears that promise, the tremble threatening tears of massive proportions, but she says evenly, "I know, of course I forgive you. I had a vision a couple weeks after you left that told me where you were, and a few days ago I saw enough to know I needed to come and help you in any way I could."
"You did an amazing job flora, thank you." He says, pulling back and smiling at her as he drinks in the sight of her face, lightly touching his fingers to the bags under her eyes and her ridiculously beautiful cheekbones and eyes and lips and even ears that he hasn't seen in what feels like centuries. "You lost weight, and you haven't been sleeping well for a while."
"Can you blame me? I was worried sick that all that was left of you were memories and this ring, which you never gave a full explanation of, by the way." Isabella says with a wide smile that does little to hide the shadows in her eyes that give way to the heartbreak and worry hiding underneath. She brings up a bandaged hand to push his no doubt greasy hair out of his eyes and trailing on his face as they both re-familiarize with the other.
"Is the reason you have bandages because of me?" He murmurs, grabbing both her wrists and bringing them to his face. He kisses the palm of each before mumbling, "I'm sorry, my flower."
"You were sparking with the backlash of breaking the Tesseract's and Thanos's hold over you. Everyone else couldn't come near you without bursting into flames. I have a couple blisters, no more." She says, her cheeks flushing deeply at his soft kisses and nickname, remembering the first time he called her that and how embarrassed he was. Shaking her head to het back into the present instead of the past, she says looking down at their hands, "A couple blisters are worth every second of time knowing that you are with me and soon, we can be together again."
"No more working on me until your hands are healed, I can take care of myself." Loki says, squeezing her wrists softly before resting his forehead on hers. "We will be together the same way a man and wife is when everything is done and over with. That is why I gave you the ring; as a promise I made to come back to you and we would be married."
Isabella gasps in a breathless exhalation, tears welling up in her eyes before she gently punches him the shoulder. His body still recovering from the drain of the breaking of Thanos's and the Tesserac'ts control causes him to wince at the punch, rubbing his arm and asking, "Why did you punch me?"
"Only you would propose to me after recovering from a coma and reuniting only a few days ago after two years." She pouts, cuddling closer to him. "Plus, I wanted a long engagement."
"Technically, I proposed to you two years ago, which is quite long I think." He says with a shrug and wrapping his arms around her waist to hug her close again. "But if you want to wait, I would not be adverse."
"We'll have to talk about it later, but for now..." Isabella removes her necklace and takes the ring off, handing it to Loki. Getting the message when she sticks her left and out, he slides it onto her fourth finger, kissing it after he does.
"Now we are engaged." She says with the biggest smile he's ever seen her wear. Nodding in agreement, he smiles back and kisses her softly, noting how much time has healed her wounds when she barely flinches, (only doing that in surprise as well), at his kiss.
The kiss lasts a few moments before they pull back and hug each other as both of them prepare for the long conversation that is ahead of them. They think of the times when all they had to worry about was if they should move in together or wait until they were married and do the right thing about everything else. Now is time for battle strategies and a renewal of the bond they shared before everything was torn apart from them as well as recovering from the past. That moment is rapidly approaching for them to come clean about how the past 2 years have made everything that much more difficult than housing decisions.
Finally, after a long intake of breath and deep resignation, Loki says, "It's time to tell you everything that happened after Odin sold me to Thanos."
I am so sorry that this is so late! I got caught up with a lot of stuff, including my "WONDERFUL" family, and I haven't touched a computer since last Sunday. Anyway, here is the little filler chapter before Loki's ordeals are detailed and we find out what happens with the Avengers, Loki's betrayers, as well as Loki's extended family.
Also, I need more votes on the poll which is on my profile if you care to check it out. If any of you have favorite engagement/wedding rings that you would like to share with me, please review with a link or picture.
Thank you and stay tuned.
