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Chapter Five

~Nobody's POV~

Thor knows as soon as the door opens whom it is.

"Now, brother?" he asks, troubled.

"It must be now," says Loki. "Or she will be put in even higher jeopardy. Looking at her sister made me realize just how little time we have."

"And where is the elder one? Her sister?"

"I've told her to go to sleep," replies Loki calmly. "She should be in her room."

Thor looks down. "I do not trust that when she wakes up, she shall not hear."

"Oh, yes, I rather doubt that as well," says Loki in a humorous tone.

Thor looks up at the ceiling. "Very well. I'll call Stark. He should be able to take care of her."

"Perhaps Natasha as well. Both seem to have rather pugnacious spirits."

"Which is why I do not think this is an excellent idea, brother."

Loki is still for a moment, and then nods.

~Older Girl's POV~

When I open my eyes, I realize that my head is throbbing, and every time I blink, it pains my eye lids. I sit up slowly, then suddenly, as I realize I have no idea where I am.

Then I realize it: I'm in Tony's office. He is sitting in a chair next to a desk, staring at a computer screen and occasionally typing on it. There is no light save for the dim glow of the computer screen, and the thin strip underneath the tightly shut door.

Tony looks up. "Oh, hey, look who's awake." I'm a bit taken aback by his tone; it's a little...nervous?

"What time is it?" I ask groggily.

Tony pulls back his shirt sleeve and inspects the watch on his wrist. "Ten til midnight."

"I did not sleep all day." I say in shock.

"In fact, yes you did."

"Where's Leah?"

Tony hesitates for half a second before replying. "She's upstairs, sleeping. She's fine. Just fine."

"Then why am I not upstairs with her?" I demand.

Again, there is brief hesitation as Tony leans back in his chair and stretches. "The infirmary people felt like your room is too 'contaminated' or something like that. You're in here for the night."

"What about Leah? How come her room is not 'contaminated'," I say the last word in air quotes.

Tony taps the screen. "You know, you ask way too many questions, right?"

A dull, motorized voice sounds from the room. "Sound concealing doors now in effect, Tony."

My head snaps up.

"Shut up, Jarvis," mutters Tony.

"What's going on?" I ask, looking at the door. I am about ten times as close to it as Tony.

Tony rolls his eyes. "Nothing. Just securing every blasted door on this blasted ship. Now go to sleep or Natasha will have my head."

Panic is settling through my veins. I know exactly what is going on.

The second Tony's eyes have moved from me back to the computer, I spring off the mattress and lunge for the door. Tony's loud cries of "Lock the doors, Jarvis!" are too late; I wrench the knob open so hard, I'm almost surprised when it doesn't fall off.

As soon as the door opens, I hear it. Screams. Horrible, guttural screams, and screams I know only come from my baby sister. They are panicked and loud enough so that I can hear it from two floors below.

I hear Tony behind me, but I jam my elbow into his face, causing him to groan and fall into the wall behind us. Ordinarily, I doubt I could have done that, but I am so worked up right now, I probably could knock Loki out cold.

"Barton!" yells Stark, probably over his radio. "Get down here!"

But I am faster. Within sixty seconds, I am at the door to Leah's room; I am running on pure adrenaline. I bang on the door, and surprisingly, it opens.

I stop in the middle of the doorway.

I see three figures huddled around the bed. Leah is kicking and screaming. Thor is hovering over her, looking almost as pained as her. He is holding what looks to be a needle. I see blood. Jane is holding Leah's head, crying and trying to soothe her. Leah's face is drenched in sweat and tears. Loki is the only one who looks up to see me; perhaps the only one who has heard me over Leah's agonized screams. He is holding her, although Thor seems to be doing most of the work.

Breathing hard, I run towards Leah, but suddenly, Loki stands and grabs me roughly. I scream and kick and hit at him, but he just picks me up and begins to drag me out of the room. "No! Let me go, she needs me!"

"No," I am surprised to hear that Loki's voice is trembling. "She does not need you, and the best thing you can do for her is to leave. It will be over soon."

I manage to wrench out of his grip long enough for him to force me to set me down on the floor. "NO! I am her sister, you brute, and you let me GO!"

I am panicking so much, I don't register the fact that Loki has slapped my face until the sting sets in almost a full minute later. "Calm down!" he hisses.

"How am I supposed to calm down!" I shriek as Leah screams again.

"By leaving. Now go before I get even more angered by your careless actions."

"You knew this was going to happen!" I scream at him. "Today! When you looked at my scar! When you lied to me! A week, you said! You're a bloody liar! A week, and I wake up ton-wait, you horrible thing, the reason you wanted me to go to sleep was so that I would sleep through this! I bet you drugged me or...or something so that I would sleep. Well you were wrong, you back-stabbing puppet, you are-"

"ENOUGH!" roars Loki and slaps my arm. "If I have to drag you out of this room and tie you to a post to make you stay still and calm down before you kill yourself, I will do so."

"HOW CAN YOU EXPECT ME TO CALM DOWN!" I shriek. Tears are running down my face in hot streams, but I barely notice.

"Do you not know?" he yells at me. "The more you panic, the worse your condition arises. You are going to kill yourself if you do not calm down. Now stop. Talking."

My mouth clamps shut, but then opens again as I begin to pant; I am out of breath.

Leah's scream's intensify, and I look over at her. She is struggling against Thor, but she is no match. There is crimson on the sheets. I feel dizzy.

I feel a hand grab my chin and pull my face away from the scene. I don't bother to struggle as I look Loki in the face. Both of us are breathing hard.

"Listen to me," he whispers. "It will be all-"

I begin to cry, falling to the floor in my sobs. I barely feel someone picking me up, but I know that it's not Loki. He lets go of me.

"Make her sleep," I vaguely hear Loki saying. "Even if you have to induce it."

I don't remember getting back to Tony's office, but I recognize the vague glow. I feel something prick my arm, and then I fall into a blissful sleep.

*

When I wake up, it is not Tony who is at the desk. It is Natasha.

I blink, rubbing my eyes. They are swollen and I still feel the dryness on my face from where my tears fell last night.

Natasha walks over to me, crouching down next to the cot. She feels my head; her hand is cold. "How are you feeling?" she asks quietly.

"Like hell," I say, coughing.

She smiles a little. "I can imagine. Here." She reaches under the bed and hands me a cold glass of water. "Drink this. It might help."

The cold liquid feels fabulous on my parched throat, and even though I know water is supposed to have no taste, it sure does taste heavenly.
"Last night wasn't supposed to happen like that," says Natasha gently.

I don't say anything.

"When Loki saw your scar, he realized how quick your sister's health is- was declining. You see, the outside rim tells the condition of the twin scar; your sister."

I remember Loki describing the outside rim and how he looked worried.

"He made you go lie down because he know you are getting worse as well, but at a slower pace. A nurse injected you with a sleeping solvent. Loki then made Stark-Tony- let you sleep in his office so that you would not be able to hear Leah's sc- well, Leah. It wore off sooner than the nurse thought. I'm sorry you had to see that."

I remain silent. "Can I see Leah?"

Natasha shakes her head sadly. "Not right now. She is sleeping, and Thor doesn't want her disturbed. Don't worry; she is perfectly fine; a bit traumatized, I'm sure, but fine. Thor and Jane are with her now."

"What about me?" I ask.

"Loki came in here last night around three to see your scar. He says now that Leah's is gone, your health will decline even more rapidly. He and Thor are getting more of the serum and the injection. They will take out the venom tonight."

I feel my heart rate quicken. "And what happens if I refuse?"

Natasha smiles sadly. "I don't think you're allowed to refuse."

I am silent.

She pats my arm. "Rest some. Okay?"

"Okay."

*

I hear someone near the cot, and my eyes pop open.

"Leave us," says a familiar voice.

"What are you doing here?" I demand as the door shuts.

Loki looks down at me, his hands behind his back. "I'm here to monitor you."

I roll over. "I don't need to be monitored."

"Your behavior proves otherwise."

Instead of snapping at him, I say, "I don't feel any worse. Why tonight?"

"Why not tonight?"

 I turn around again. He is still staring at me. "I don't think I'm ready."

Loki walks over to me and kneels down in front of the bed. "Imagine this. Tonight, nothing happened. But tomorrow, you wake up and instead of knowing that it is over and having that sense of relief, you know that soon, you will have to succumb yourself to it anyway."

I open my mouth, but as usual, he interrupts. "The truth is, you will never be ready. But would you not rather see it happen and have it over with than wait in the dark?"

I bite my lip to stop the tear, but it ignores me and trickles down my face. "Fine," I choke out. "It's not like I would have had a choice anyway."

"On the contrary." He replies. "I am letting you decide. Any time between tonight and three nights from now."

"That's not a lot of options."

He raises his eyebrows. "At least they are options."

"Yeah, whatever," I say.

Loki looks at me for a moment, then moves to stand. "Very well. I'll tell Thor that it will be tonight."

"Wait,"

He stops.

"I'm ...I'm sorry."

"For what?" he asks calmly.

"For calling...for calling you a monster. And horrible. And a liar. And a puppet. And for trying to hit you every second of the day."

Loki's eyes are troubled. He leans over and touches my forehead with his hand. Unlike Natasha's, it is warm. "You are a girl- barely more than a child- and have already braved more than most full grown men."

"I haven't braved the worst yet," I say honestly.

"You have braved a mature decision and the wait for the storm. That is more than most."

"What's that to me?" I mutter.

He chuckles. "It wouldn't, I suppose."

We sit there in silence for a couple minutes. My mind is racing as I try to make a decision. I get up, and Loki looks at me curiously, but I just walk over to the table and get the glass of water. The coolness still feels wonderful.

"Thea." I say suddenly.  

Loki's eyebrows knit together. "What?"

"My name is Thea."

He is silent for once. Then, he says, "That is a lovely name. Thank you for telling me, Thea."

"Don't tell anybody else," I plead.

"And why not?"

"I don't trust the others," I say simply.

A smile twitches on his face. "If you really knew me, you would be so surprised you would be saying that."

My eyes widen, and I am about to say something when Loki says, "Do not worry. Your secret is safe with me." He smiles. "Thea."

He stands, about to leave. As he walks past me, I hug him without really thinking about it. I really don't know exactly why I did that.

Loki hesitates, then squeezes me back. I am suddenly crying, and do not know why. I don't know much of anything right now.

"It's okay," says Loki softly as my body racks with sobs. "Calm down before you hurt yourself."

Remembering what he said last night, I try to stop crying. A few minutes later, I succeed.

Loki murmurs, "Like down, Thea. Rest. You will need your energy."

He releases me, and zombie-like, I walk back to the bed and collapse on it. As he reaches the doorway, Loki looks back. "Sleep well, Thea."

The door closes behind him, and I bury myself in the blanket, tears beginning to fall once again without my permission. 

~Nobody's POV~

Loki is thinking hard. 

He is truly on earth for only one thing, and that thing is himself. He has no interest on the invasion of earth, and no interest in the well-being of two human childern. But something about Thea's forlorn expression and her tears pricks his heart. 

But as Loki leans against the wall, he thinks hard. He can't afford to be soft, and he knows this. So as he walks down the hallway, his brow furrows in determination and ignorace.