My Awakening (4)

Chapter 8

(Avengers' Tower, Loki's POV)

"I can't sit around like this."

"You're not sitting brother, you're pacing," Thor says as he crosses his arms.

"Well how long is this going to take? Is she going to be alright? Have they thought this through properly? What if it doesn't work?"

"Okay, calm down. Take a seat."

He kicks out a chair for me to sit in, but I can't. I need to be moving. I need to be doing...... something.

"Loki. Sit down."

I huff as I sit, "How can you be so calm? She could actually die because of this."

"You know Banner won't let that happen, right?"

"But there's no guarantee. He's never dealt with this before."

"There's lots of things that he hasn't dealt with before but that have turned out fine."

"Oh yeah? Ultron."

"Okay, perhaps that's not a good example."

"I mean, why isn't Stark in there helping? He's the one who knows all the tech stuff."

"Yes brother, but this is also a matter of the human body. Bruce is a doctor, don't forget."

I sigh as my right leg bobs up and down.

"I feel restless."

"You look it. How about we go for a few rounds? Take you mind off things."

"Of drinks?"

"No brother," Thor laughs at me, which I hate. "Sparring. We can go to the training room and I can kick your ass."

"That's funny. I could beat you any day."

"Oh yeah?" He stands up to look down on me. "Prove it."

"Very well. Training room. 5 minutes."

He smirks and walks away, and the confident smile that had appeared on my face rapidly goes away again.

I do appreciate my brother's attempt to cheer me up, but there's nothing he can really do to help.

I'm just agreeing with this to humour him.

On my way into the training room, I walk past the lab and I see her. Strapped to the bed by her wrists and ankles. She's twitching, but it looks as though she's still under the Maximoff girl's influence.

Banner seems to be running figures through a computer and looking at diagrams, but I couldn't begin to try and understand it.

I stand there for a few moment, my hand pressed gently against the window as though I could somehow reach through the glass and hold her.

Of course that doesn't happen.

The redhead sees me looking and gives me a sad, sympathetic smile, but I can't bring myself to give her one back. Nothing about this is right, so what is there to smile about?

"Come along brother," Thor appears behind me and steers me away by my shoulders. "It'll do you no good to see her go through all of that. We will fight, and we'll take your mind off of it."

"It won't work Thor. I have nothing to fight for."

"Of course you do. You're fighting for her."

I sigh as we walk into the training room.

"I just don't understand why List has this incessant fascination with her. We get it, she has these incredible powers, but she's already got away from him twice so he needs to cut his losses and accept defeat."

"Careful there, you're starting to sound like Rogers."

"Ugh. I'd rather you kill me than I be like him."

"You know he's not all bad, right? I don't know why you hate him so much."

"Not just me brother. Most people here have a reason not to like him. Personally, I don't like how he treats everyone like something he's scraped off his boot, y/n in particular. He has a special disliking for her."

"Ah. And her being your new conquest, you feel the need to defend her," he smirks.

"Do not call her a conquest," I raise my eyebrow. "She is more than that. Imagine if I had called Jane your conquest. You'd have gone straight for my throat."

"True," he holds up his hands defensively. "I apologise brother. It is clear, to all of us, that she means a lot to you."

"She does."

"I must say, it's nice to see. The last time I saw you care about someone this much was when Mother was still alive."

"Yes, well, Frigga was always decent to me."

"You can call her Mother, Loki. It won't kill you."

"I'd rather not live in fantasy land any more, thank you brother. I know my heritage, and it is not the lie that I was raised upon."

"She was the only mother you ever had. It won't hurt you to acknowledge that."

"I do, brother. I'm very grateful for all the affection she showed me in comparison to how Odin treated me, but that doesn't mean I'm going to call her something she is not. Perhaps that's why I dislike Rogers so much. Because he treats y/n the same way that Odin treated me."

"I think that the Captain has been through a lot-"

"Haven't we all? Thor, you stood and watched your home burn. Banner lived in secret for fear of releasing the monster within him. Y/n had her family killed in front of her. We've all been through a lot, that doesn't give him the right to treat her any less than he would treat me."

"You mean after you stole the Tesseract and tried to destroy New York? That whole thing?"

"Exactly. If he can be decent to me after that, then he has no excuse for being horrid to y/n."

Thor is obviously trying to hold back a smile, and he fails.

"What?"

"You're in love with her."

"What? No I am not."

I am.

"Yes you are. My God, Loki, I thought you were protective but you are protective. You wouldn't even jump to my defence as much as you do hers."

"Well of course not. I don't like you."

"Yes you do."

"Okay but you annoy me."

"Regardless, you're overly protective. I believe this is what the humans would call 'clingy'?"

"I am not clingy."

His head tips back a little as he laughs, "You're clingy! Loki, God of Mischief, is pining over his beloved so much so that it's almost a little bit sad."

"Shut up," it's hard to fight my own grin.

"Do you want to ask her to be your girlfriend?"

"That's enough."

"Maybe you'll marry her."

"Getting ahead of yourself ever so slightly."

"Don't worry, when she's back to normal I'll be sure to tell her how saddened you were by her disposition, and much you longed for her."

"Alright, I think now's a good time to spar," I grin and pull my daggers from my belt. "Prepare for me to kick your ass brother."