Are you afraid?

40

Loki's Pov

Grace goes directly to Raven. Ignoring the commotion in the room.

"Hey, hey hun it's me," she says grabbing the sides of ravens head in a soothing manner "what happened?"

"At the party, I couldn't see what happened but she was exposed," Bruce says looking a bit panicked "I couldn't get through the crowd. Loki was there, he saw the whole thing."

Grace doesn't look away from Raven and starts gently slapping the side of her face.

"No, your not allowed to do this again," she says and I notice her eyes aren't flashing in time anymore. One will be red for a moment longer then the other before turning white.

"What's happening to her?" I don't know what to do, or how to help past what I've already done but the look on her face when she was completely exposed hunts me. She needs help.

"This is her version of a panic attack," Grace explains hurriedly "she's going to go into shock. Fuck! Raven, Phobia please don't make me do this to you again." We all watch as Grace seems to get more and more frustrated.

Ravens eyes are completely out of sync. Grace growls grabbing something from in her purse and stabbing it into Ravens thigh.

"What are you doing!" "Wow!" "You can't just-!" Everyone starts yelling at once. Grace pays them no mind and goes back to watching Raven. I watch as her eye slowly stop flashing before going completely black. She slumps forwards slightly looking totally gone.

"What was that?" I ask shocked.

"She's going to be out for a while," Grace says standing and facing everyone fully "so, start talking what happened."

Everyone goes quite for a moment, looking towards Stark. He crosses his arms looking quite peeved.

"She decided to show up to a party she knew I didn't want her at in a disguise. She also decided to come up to the group and act as if she was a completely different person," he looks around at everyone "I was rightfully upset and went to confront her on the dance floor. She went crazy and now we are here."

"She went crazy?" I scuff gaining everyone attention "you grabbed her and started publicly yelling at her. You shoved her at one point stark! You knew that if you had that conflict on the dance floor you'd get everyone's attention. You wanted to embarrass her, because you were upset she was having a good time and didn't want to admit you enjoyed talking with her. Even if the conversation was brief."

Everyone looks taken back by the outburst. Grace is now glaring at stark with murder in her eyes.

"Why are you even talking?" Stark scuffs "you were right there, if you were so against what happened you'd have stepped in before she freaked out. Do not pretend you didn't just stand there and watched."

"She was terrified!" I flare my arms to emphasize my point "in that moment she was terrified of you and the audience you brought with you! She looked like a caged animal! Did you even notice how scared she looked?"

Stark stays quiet looking taken back. Everyone else looks just as shocked at my outburst.

"You probably don't even realize what you've done to her do you," I growl "or let me guess, you don't care? She hurt your precious ego so who cares if the world knows her secret?"

"Wait," Grace suddenly looks horrified "people saw her like this?"

"Jarvis is working on damage control," Tony scuffs "there weren't even that many people who saw."

"Actually sir," Jarvis cuts in "the videos have already gone viral. I can't get rid of them."

"Viral?! She's gone viral?!" Grace shanks her head "No, this can't be happening."

"We haven't even gotten to introduce her to the public yet! This could ruin her!" Banner says looking a bit green "I need to leave, I can't be in here right now."

No one stops him as he storms out. Grace is now hugging Ravens limp body to her chest her large wings only slightly in the way.

"Would you like assistance getting her to her room?" I ask after a moment of silence.

"I don't believe we were done with this conversation," the captain says firmly.

"I think we all need to rest and get the alcohol out of our system before we can discuss this," Natasha says rubbing her forehead "we can continue the conversation tomorrow. When do you think Raven will wake up?"

"Last time she got like this it took a day and a half," Grace says sighing "I'd appreciate the help, she's quite heavy." I nod moving forward to grab her.

"Brother maybe I should-" Thor stops talking at the glare I send him as I scoop her off the couch.

How dare any of them pretend to want to help now, where were they when stark was coming for her on the dance floor? Bruce says he couldn't make it through the crowd. I believe him. He was on the other side of the room when it went down. The others were on the dance floor.

It's completely silent as we walk to the elevator. I look down to make sure I've got a good hold on Raven once the doors close.

"Thank you," Grace says sounding on the verge of tears "I know you don't like her. I know she scares you, but thank you for standing up for her tonight."

"We were dancing," I say clearing my throat "when stark happened, she looked so scared. It caught me off guard."

"You didn't think she felt fear," it's not a question, and as she wipes her eyes she laughs bitterly "your not the first to think that. Lots of people think she's incapable of certain emotions just because of what she is."

We don't speaks for the rest of the journey to her room. Grace moves the blankets out of the way for me to set Raven down.

"You can go," Grace says once I've stepped back "like I said I know your not fond of her."

"Are you sure you don't need any more help?" I don't know why I said it. I've done more then enough to help already tonight.

"We'll be fine," Grace says smiling softly. I nod and head for my room feeling a bit overwhelmed now that its all setting in.

Why did I get so defensive of her like that in front of everyone? Like Grace said I'm not fond of her, but as her terror filled face flashes in my memory I'm not upset I did it.