They Come on White Horses: Chapter 17
Requested by: NoVacancyMind and many wonderful others
Sequel to Knights.
I should probably give you the bad news first, well it's not exactly bad, just news. I am leaving for college next week! This means: updates will be more sporadic and will not be as scheduled. Sorry for that, but education comes first. This in no way means I am not going to finish my stories. They will be updated, and I will not leave you hanging. Just don't expect an update every Saturday like I have been doing, thank you.
Besides that, I have upped my crazy level and on top of the college thing and writing 3 multi-chapter stories at the same time, I have written a one-shot featuring Loki, of course. It is a bit dark, no bad ending, but the drama did take me a bit by surprise. So check it out: THE TONGUE'S GREATEST FEAR.
Please enjoy and review!
Disclaimer: Don't own. Never will. So sad.
Waking Up
Waking up the next morning was much like waking up in the hospital for the first time. The room was too bright and his eyes burned under the glare of the lights. However, Loki could easily say that he felt considerably better. His skin no longer felt suffocating and on fire, and the deep ache in his bones had dulled. Thor's hand was still latched onto his arm, and he couldn't extract it from his brother's grip. Not that he really wanted to move at the moment. So, Loki stayed where he was and dozed.
The feel of his magic freely flowing through him was almost as comforting as having his big brother beside him. It was finally coming together. He hadn't felt this…free in a long, long time. Loki knew it wouldn't last. It couldn't, but there were times like this where he could just let him mind drift in the peace. Let it live on in his mind for as long as he could allow, until he had to return back to reality. It was never a pleasant return; his last had been waking up in a crater in the Avenger's tower floor. Before that he had to stop himself from killing, or allowing the Chitauri to kill, a young girl. He would never have forgiven himself if that small child, Isabelle, died. Now, was the calm before the storm. Now, he was not needed.
Now, was the time to rest.
As Loki slept (he had exerted himself greatly and needed a significant amount of time to recover), Thor woke and watched over him for many hours. Every so often Steve or Pepper would stop in, bring him food, ask about Loki. They were kind gestures, and really, Thor did appreciate them; however, he just wanted to spend his time observing and protecting. As a big brother, he could not help but feel he had failed in his duties as the past few years replayed themselves over and over again. So, for now, he refused to leave his post, stationed at his brother's side. They and changed so much, and yet Thor could still see the young boy he had played with in their mother's gardens and who had followed him into battle and crawled into his bed when he had a nightmare. He saw Loki, his baby brother.
Loki started to stir around late afternoon. Thor had taken up pacing, not wanting to leave the room at all, but starting to feel confined, trapped. He caught the movement from his brother's bed out of the corner of his eye and was back at his side immediately.
"Loki. Brother." Loki slowly opened his eyes, and when Thor saw him wince, he rushed to close the blinds and dim the lights. The Trickster, now fully awake, maneuvered himself into a sitting position and ran a hand through his short hair. A few strands fell in his face, but he wasn't particularly concerned. He blinked at Thor's wide eyed expression and raised a brow.
"Is there a reason you look manic or are you just being excitable?" Thor couldn't stop the laugh if he wanted to, and his smile burned brighter when he calmed and saw a familiar smirk on his brother's face.
"It is just good to see you awake and well, Brother. I was starting to get worried." Loki rolled his eyes and waved away his concerns.
"I broke the bonds on my magic with magic and then let it flood me. I'd like to see you not sleep a day away. Wait, you do that already." Thor snorted and playfully shoved his brother's shoulder. They chatted for a few minutes, each avoiding the subject of the consequences of Loki breaking the bracelets, and no bones were broken. A small dome of nostalgia formed over them. Loki forgot everything he had ever said about sentiment and weakness, and just allowed himself to enjoy talking to his brother, reminiscing.
Their little pow-wow was interrupted by a commotion out in the hallway. Thor stood, and motioned for Loki to stay in the bed when he made as if to get up. There were raised voices coming closer until they were just outside their door and they could make out what was begin said.
"I want to see him! Back off, Spangley Butt!" Loki could only watch in mild shock as his door was flung open and a fully recovered and adult Tony Stark was standing in his room. He was begin followed by an entire entourage of Avengers and doctors. "You come near me with that needle again and we are going to have words. Someone call Pepper!" And with that, Tony slammed the door in all of their faces and locked it. The inventor sighed, then and sort of lumbered over to Loki's bed. The two Norse gods were a bit stunned and didn't move or speak as Tony sort of…fell into Loki's side and sprawled out on the small hospital bed.
"You know, this whole thing was weird. I mean, really really weird. Magic is weird." Loki felt the man's voice vibrating on the skin of his abdomen and simply laid a hand on his upturned shoulder.
"Yes, well…that is one way to put it." Tony snorted and lifted his head. They just stared at each other for a few minutes, before the inventor shrugged and dropped his head back down.
"I'm not exactly sure how to feel about you now, so I'm probably just gonna ignore them. But if anyone's got a problem with you, they can deal with me, or Bruce, or Pepper. Pepper's scary." Thor smirked at his brother, now laden with a man-child rather than a child, and received a glare in return. The Thunderer stood and made for the door.
"I shall just speak to them about leaving you two to rest." Tony just waved him off and stayed where he was. They heard a brief rise in volume when the door opened, but it was quickly shut out once more.
"I take it Dr. Banner has yet to awaken?" Tony sighed and flipped over onto his back, forcing Loki to accommodate him.
"No, and don't tell me you are going to go back to calling us Stark and Banner. It was weird before, but after all of this, it would just be super awkward. Why aren't we all in the same room? I mean really, this is ridiculous. If they had just stuck us all in the same room, there wouldn't be a problem." Loki raised an eyebrow at the man.
"You came in here, because you were upset we weren't all in the same room?" Tony shrugged.
"Well, you know, when someone's turned back into a child and then finally has a semi-normal..no scratch that, a significantly better childhood for even just a couple of days…emotions happen, and emotions are strange chemicals that make people do stupid things. Attachments are formed and when that person who was turned into a child wakes up back as an adult, the person they formed an attachment to, no matter how weird or ex-supervillainy they might be, that person better be there dammit!" Tony glared at the door. "I blame them." Loki was a bit shocked by the outburst, and yet couldn't contain a bark of laughter. Tony Stark had never grown up, save a few curse words added to his vocabulary. Said inventor smirked at Loki's laugh and stood abruptly. He snatched Loki's wrist and yanked him out of bed, a surprisingly easy thing considering how drained Loki still was.
"Come on. We've got to wait for Bruce to wake up." That is how Loki found himself dragged out of his room, through an irate crowd of superheroes and doctors and into another hospital bed with Tony Stark. Bruce also looked his proper age, but he had not woken up. Then again, Tony seemed to like being an exception to many things, magic included. They passed the time chatting about inane things, well, Tony babbled and Loki contented himself to listen. Sometimes they ventured into serious territory, like when Tony noticed the bracelets that had been on Loki's wrists were no longer there.
Loki explained what had happened after they had been knocked out, and Tony was quiet for a little while. Loki could tell the man was thinking about the consequences of such an action, but decided not to voice them. For that, Loki was grateful, and they went back to Tony blathering on and Loki only inputing a comment here and there. They were occasionally interrupted by a doctor, who was quickly chased away. Loki asked Tony if he wanted to see the other Avengers, Steve at least, but the inventor only shrugged. 'Later,' he had said, and Loki accepted it.
It wasn't until late evening that Bruce started to stir. They heard some rustling coming from his bed and turned to find him tossing and turning under the covers. What caused them distress, however, was the green tinge Bruce's skin was turning. Tony leaped off the bed, soon followed by Loki, and ran over to Bruce. He grabbed Bruce's hand tight and spoke to him in hopes of calming him down.
"Bruce, buddy, come on. There's no need to smash things. Everything's cool here. Look, I even brought Loki. We're all safe, you're safe. Just calm down, big guy." His words appeared to be having no affect on Bruce, and even Loki found he could not get through to the doctor. It was almost like he was in the midst of a nightmare that had scared him enough to turn into the Hulk while unconscious. Loki pulled Tony back when Bruce suddenly changed drastically, but wasn't fast enough. The Hulk now stood above them, and grunted as he looked around the room. His head broke the ceiling tiles above him, and he roared at the ceiling. Tony and Loki could hear the people outside banging on the door, but when they tried to open it, the Hulk roared at them and threw a cabinet in front of the door, barring their entry.
Despite all this, Hulk had yet to hurt them or even acknowledge them. This meant that Tony was going to try something stupid. He stepped forward towards the not-so-jolly green giant.
"Hey, Buddy, um.." Tony stopped all movement as Hulk swung his head around, destroying a few more ceiling tiles, and growled at him. Once Hulk got a good look at him though, the growling subsided.
"Bad. Lady." Loki, not willing to let Tony throw himself in harms way without a little aid stepped forward as well, hands held out to the side in surrender.
"Amora is gone. Destroyed. She will not harm either of you again." Hulk growled at Loki and hunched over towards him. Loki held completely still, while he felt the large monster…sniff him.
"No smell crazy. Save small Hulk and small Hulk friend. Makes Hulk friend. Safe now." The Hulk reached out and patted both Tony and Loki on the head, hard enough to give them each a headache, before he suddenly shifted back into Bruce. Tony and Loki caught the man, and lowered him gently onto the other, not destroyed, hospital bed. Loki grabbed a spare hospital gown and got the doctor in it rather successfully, and then they each settled in on either side of Bruce, squished on the too small bed. They both hoped that the next time Bruce woke up, it would be as the doctor and not Mr. Hyde.
This chapter is surprisingly short. :/ Sorry. Hopefully a new one-shot will make up for that?:):):) Please review! :)