Author's Note: I have no excuse. I am so sorry for how late I am. Thank you, to ALL my readers for their love for this story and their patience!
Replies to reviews:
TheIronBat: FINALLY, HERE IT IS. I am so so sooo sorry for the delay, but I hope the wait is worth it. I HAVE GOT BACK MY MOJO, AND HOLY CRAP I FEEL GREAT. I am so glad you liked the last chapter - it was definitely one of my favourites to write! The sexytimes thooo! That was rather a lot of fun to write haha! And I did watch Deadpool and it was great! One of the best movies I've ever watched! Thanks so much for your neverending support and patience - I do hope you like this next chapter too. We're so close to the finish line!
PhantomLion: I'M SORRY, I AM SO LATE! FORGIVE ME! Thank you soo much for your kind words and for patiently following this story. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
aqua-empress: omg, your majesty, I apologise for the delay. Please, take this update as an offering of my apologies, and as a request for your mercy. Lol, I hope you like this chapter, and thanks for the Not-Review!
Queen Martha Pond: Apologies for the long wait! I hope you're still around and willing to read this little fic. Thank you soo much for the review and your kind words, AND your patience! I hope you enjoy this next chapter as well!
MissMemory: Thanks, Memory! I hope you like this next chapter too, and apologies for the long wait!
Yago: Thank you so much for ALL the reviews! You spurred me to get on with it haha! I do apologise for the absurdly long wait and hope you enjoy this next chapter!
AvengersForever: Thanks so much for the review, and your interesting speculations! I'll definitely keep them in mind for future ideas ;) I hope you like this chapter!
Person: Thank you for the reviews! Im so glad you liked the last chapter, and to hear you reread the entire thing, and I hope you like the next one too!
HulkFan1: Hmm, that's an interesting theory I will keep in mind, thank you! I hope you're still around and will enjoy reading this next chapter!
GuessWho: Thanks so much for the reviews! Apologies for the long wait, but here it is, the next chapter! I do hope you enoy!
Fiera Evenstar: Thanks so much for your reviews! I hope you enjoy this next chapter as well xx
Rockabillie123: Thanks so much for the love! I am so sorry for the huge wait but here I am, with another chapter that I hope you will enjoy!
stonecoldswanlove: I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, HERE, HAVE THIS CHAPTER AND COOKIES TOO, MY POOR DARLING, I HAVEN'T ABANDONED YOU! Lol, I hope you like this one!
Bex Lee: I'm the worst, I know. So sorry for the long wait, but here you go! Enjoy!
OtakuWhovian1224: *peers from behind a tree* I'm here. Pls don't kill me. I hope you like this chapter, and thank you so much for your patience!
The River of Hope: haha, thanks for the review, and I hope this next chapter makes up for the long wait!xx
**To all the 'Guest' reviewers**: There were so many of you this time I didn't know how to distinguish between you all! I just want to say thank you so much for the neverending support and I DO apologise for the long wait. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 22
Louie POV
It was dark, very dark, and my stomach felt like it was on fire. There were voices, faint, then loud, then faint again, fading in and out, echoing inside my head, and the fire just was not stopping.
Make it stop, I whimpered. It hurts. Everything hurt, and I didn't remember who I was, or what happened to me.
Nothing made any sense.
Then, the burning sensation was changing, it was dying down, and I was shivering at the cold. The cold was a blessing because it was making me forget – everything had receded into a blank nothingness.
The cold was on my face, on my stomach, against my shoulder. And I was too tired to do anything except float away into the nothingness.
Loki POV
Loki would think he would be used to this rage, this sense of worry in his mind; after being around Thor, who had been mortally wounded countless times, and the tragedy of what happened to his mother, he should be used to it.
Perhaps he was, in a way. Perhaps that is what made him do the unthinkable.
Or perhaps, Heimdall and Odin were watching.
Either way, Loki knew he could not have broken free of his magical bindings if Louie had not been mortally wounded.
The skin on his back where the seal was burned white hot, but Loki barely noticed because he was screaming, and then, he was disappearing. He reappeared cradling Louie in his arms, and the girl was whimpering, her eyes blinking blearily. They clouded over, a milky white that made Loki think of poisons and pain, and he was even more terrified than he ever thought was possible.
The team around him was talking all at once, but he was not paying attention.
Louie, Louie, Louie.
"She is fading, and fast," said Thor, "we should-"
"Home," Loki cut across his brother, "I'm taking her home." He looked to Hulk, who was eyeing him warily, probably sensing his rediscovered powers.
"It's too far," said the Captain, "maybe a hospital-,"
"Home," he snarled, and pressed his hand against Louie's stomach a little harder. Louie groaned, gurgling. Loki winced, pressing his lips to her forehead in apology. This was not productive. He needed space, he needed time to concentrate and heal.
"Banner," he said, looking at the green giant once more, "I need you, too." Hulk placed a large hand on his shoulder, his weight barely shifting Loki, now that he was back at his full potential. It was odd though, that the return of his magic did not appeal to him the way borrowing Louie's energy had. Loki shared a glance with his brother before he concentrated for a moment, fixing his memory on the white walls of the Stark Tower infirmary, and disappeared.
They reappeared in the infirmary, and Jarvis was already on high alert.
"Sir, I must have you know, I have warned the others of your return to your height of prowess."
"Fine," he said distractedly, "it does not matter – it does not-"
Hulk was gone, and Bruce was dancing out of ripped clothes and into new ones.
"Get her on the bed," the doctor said, and his calm demeanour settled Loki's mind for a moment.
Louie was whimpering again, and Loki swallowed. Suddenly, she went stiff, her eyes rolling into her head.
"She's going into shock. Loki, I need you to help me," Bruce was already attaching the IV drop to her limp body. "You remember what I taught you about dealing with seizures?" Loki nodded, and heaved the girl so she was on her side, and Bruce was handing him something to stick in her mouth, to prevent her from biting her tongue off. Loki stroked her hair as she convulsed in his arms.
"You will be fine," he muttered, "you will be fine." For my sake.
He didn't think he could bear it if anything happened to her.
Loki had seen tragedy and torture like no other. Loki knew what true fear was, and yet, even though he had thought he had seen it all, had felt it all, this kind of fright still left him so shaken, so raw he would have winced if someone poked him with the flat end of a pen.
It was several hours later that Louie was stable, due to the combined efforts of Bruce, Loki and the occasional help from Tony. The team had been only ten minutes behind them, but Bruce assured everyone that had they been a second later, they might have been flying over the city when Louie went into shock.
Now, a tense air filled the upper floors of Stark Tower. The Avengers were listless, or stiff, or pacing around, and Pepper, Jane and Darcy had taken to sitting watch in the young woman's room, next to a tensely wound up demigod.
She was pale against the sheets, Loki noted. Deathly.
He shuddered at the very thought of the word.
As the minutes ticked by, the very gravity of what Louie had done settled down among the inhabitants of the Tower. What she had done – that uncontrollable power, that rage - that was exactly what Fury had been warning them against.
She almost burned a man's face off, and had no recollection of it afterwards. Something about the girl had turned dark, and dangerous and worst of all, Loki had felt it, and so had Thor, which meant Odin had felt it too. His newfound freedom was evidence enough; someone in Asgard saw a bigger threat than he in the vicinity, and had given him back his abilities to assist Thor in securing this dangerous object. Loki wanted to weep. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. He was the wreck, not Louie. Louie was not the one who should be under suspicious. He stroked her dark, messy waves, and traced a bluish vein down her arm. Her breathing was shallow and her stomach was bound tightly. Blood dripped into her to replace what she had lost.
"Loki," Bruce said at his shoulder. Loki turned mutely, acknowledging the doctor's presence. There was no one else in the room, the others having slunk away. Bruce sat down at Louie's side as well, his brown eyes drifting sadly over the girl's prone figure.
"I don't understand what's happening," he said quietly. "She's not supposed to be this ill. She should have healed hours ago. Has her magic faded away?" Loki shook his head.
"No. It is there. Which is why I cannot understand why this is happening," Loki gritted his teeth.
"It's like she's in limbo," Bruce murmured, "she isn't losing any more blood, but it doesn't look like she's gaining any more either. I don't get it, I've supplied her with over a pint now, and her face should pick up colour..." Bruce's voice faded into the background as everything around Loki stilled.
Loki...
Loki inhaled sharply. He hadn't heard that voice since it passed judgement at his trial.
Her father...
You seek her father...
How do you know this? he asked, his heart beating rapidly. Louie never spoke of her father, only abundantly of her mother. Loki had learned almost as soon as she had, that fathers were not a topic of discussion. And yet, her mind seemed to be on him constantly these past few days. He cast his mind to the man he had seen in Louie's dreams. The stranger that haunted her nights that she forgot about in the mornings, because humans were too young to know how to retain everything they saw in their nightmares. Which was for the best, if you thought back on it; they were too easily hurt, and too easily terrorised.
Bring the girl to us, but you must find her kin...
"Why?" he asked loudly, and Bruce jumped.
"What?" the doctor asked, bewildered, "why, what?"
"Odin," Loki said, his heart still hammering in his chest. "Odin spoke to me." He rose, striding out the door, Bruce on his heels.
"Thor! Thor!"
"I heard," his brother replied, meeting him halfway.
"What did he mean, bring her to him?"
"Maybe he will help her," Thor replied doubtfully. He must be recalling the manner in which Odin first treated Jane – the disdain her had for the mortal and her apparently human illness. And yet, here he was, demanding Louie to be brought to Asgard.
"Will someone please tell me what is going on?" Bruce demanded.
"Odin believes Louie's father might know how to save the girl," said Loki. "Thor, I need – We need –"
"Heimdall," Thor nodded, "we need Heimdall."
"We have to go back to Asgard," whispered Loki. His stomach churned at the thought. Back in Asgard. Back in shackles.
"And Louie?" Bruce asked. The rest of the team slowly floated toward them, their faces all speaking of the same worry. Loki stared at Thor, his gaze hard and unyielding.
"I do not think she could ever be able to travel the Bifrost," Loki said, "she is far too weak." There would be hell to pay for such disobedience, but Loki did not care. He was not going to risk moving her without some sort of assurance of her safety. Thor nodded slightly, and Loki uncoiled his tense muscles. His brother was with him. For a while, that would keep him safe.
"Then she'll stay here," Steve was back in charge, slipping back into the role of authority with ease. Now that they had direction, there was no reason for dalliance. Loki was grateful for the leadership the Captain assumed. It meant he did not have to worry about plans, as was the case with Thor and his friends. Loki was free to worry about Louie.
Already he was too scared to have left her side. What if she went into a critical state again, while he was away? What then?
"There is another matter we must consider, if we are leaving Louie behind," Thor said quietly. "Loki is under her charge. Loki cannot return to Asgard without his guardian..."
"Well, that one is easy," said Tony, sauntering forward, "Louie is my secretary, placing her as my charge. By default, that means Loki is under my protection and care." Under different circumstances, Loki may have groaned, and Pepper may have uttered something about the end of the world being nigh, but as it were, Loki just nodded at the billionaire in thanks.
"It is settled then," rumbled Thor, drawing himself up to his full and impressive height. "I, Loki and Tony will travel to Asgard and find Louie's father."
"How long do we have, Brucie?"asked Tony. Bruce hesitated, his eyes falling on Loki before he replied.
"If she doesn't stop rejecting the blood we're giving her," he said slowly, "not long at all."
Loki visited Louie one last time, after all preparations to depart had been made. Natasha and Clint reported back to SHIELD headquarters, to put out another BOLO on Slasher and Quincy. Bruce set up the infirmary as something akin to a battle frontier emergency unit, with Darcy and Steve on hand to help in case anything went wrong.
Jane would be manning communications, because she was the most experienced of those who would stay with the workings of the Bifrost, and Tony was fixing up not one, but two new suits for his second trip to the other world. The entire Tower was stirring, like a brewing storm on the horizon.
Loki threaded his long fingers through Louie's limp ones, and bent down to kiss her forehead.
"I wish," he breathed, "you could see how much they love you." How much I love you. Too late, he thought bitterly, I am always too late.
The urge to crumple and curl up against her was overwhelming. He pressed another kiss to her face, and another, and another. One to her nose, to her cheek, her mouth. He shook with the effort to compose himself.
He stayed that way until his brother came for him, until he felt Thor steering him away.
It was a terrible feeling of - what had Tony called it? - de ja vu as they rode the glass elevator to the roof. Only this time, Louie was not coming with him.
A/N: There you have it, folks!
Please let me know what you think, by leaving a review! Feel free to also throw objects at my head for leaving you with a cliffie for so long. Apologies for any typos - if you notice any of those too, let me know, I've been working on this for four hours straight now xD
Anyway,
Until next time, my duckies,
Much love,
xoxo