𝐖𝐞𝐛 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐢𝐞𝐬

56 | Language

Mourning the death of someone is one of the hardest things a person will ever do in their life time. Mourning the death of someone alone and unable to speak about it openly is even harder.

Thor woke up relatively early comparative to the inevitably hungover heroes in the rest of the palace, laying in bed with the thought of Natasha being murdered in front of thousands replaying in his mind. The only thing that put him at ease was the way in which she died, he knew that Loki's sceptre would have been quick and virtually painless, being over and done with in a matter of seconds.

What he worried about however, were the several hours in which Natasha was separated from them before the cleansing event began. He hoped she was not tortured, beaten or psychologically broken in her last remaining hours. He knew his brother well, he didn't particularly like getting his hands dirty and he doubted Loki would have actually laid a finger on her prior to the event. Again, this gave him a sense of relief the more he thought about it logistically.

He pushed his long hair out of his face, messy from tossing and turning during his sleep all night. Running his fingertips through it, he lingered to his neck, drifting to feel around at the implanted chip in his neck. The heroes had all tried their best to remove them the first few hours they had arrived to Asgard, but since drinking all of the wine they had given up.

He looked over at Tony and Quill, asleep in their respective beds on the opposite side of the large room. They were fast asleep, Tony laying on his side curled up and Quill sprawled out in a vast star position with his mouth open. Thor sighed as he rolled over in bed, looking outside at the early dawn light illuminating the city. He yawned, rubbing his eyes before being face to face with Baby Groot standing on the windowsill with his hands on his hips.

"Hey buddy, you an early riser too?" Thor whispered, glancing over to see if the other two would wake up; they were the deepest sleepers of the group, they definitely wouldn't walk up to some whispering.

"I am Groot," Groot whispered back, jumping across to the bed and standing next to Thor's chest.

Thor had learnt Groot's language growing up, it being offered as an elective subject. Thor knew many languages across multiple planets and realms, many of the Avengers looking towards him when travelling - asking him to be their translator.

"Wait you don't drink the wine either? So... You knew the same things Natasha knew... And that I know too," Thor continued, looking at the small tree man in amazement.

"I am, Groot..." he trailed, sitting down and resting his small hands on his crossed legs.

"Yes, I thought it was a form of brainwashing too... I don't want Loki just killing anyone and everyone who figures out his plan though..." Thor sighed.

"I... Am Groot?"

"You're right, Peter and Y/N don't have these chips. Maybe they'll be able to help us take down Loki or at least disable these god awful shock devices... You're brilliant Groot!" Thor said smiling, getting out of bed and leaving their room eagerly.

Thor walked leisurely through the grounds, not wanting to draw attention to himself by walking at a pressing pace, nor look like he was too determined in reaching his location if a passerby watched on.

He reached the room of Y/N and Peter, being stopped by their servants outside of the door who restricted his access. He wooed his way through the conversation, flattering the two younger Asgardians into allowing him entry - and they did.

"Y/N I must talk to you at once this is impor-Oh I am so sorry!" Thor begun, walking into the room and seeing both her and Peter asleep and presumably nude. Luckily for all three parties, the blankets were covering the two from the waist down and Y/N was curled up against Peter so her chest wasn't exposed. Thor wasn't an idiot, he knew what would have happened last night.

"Dude what happened to knocking?" Peter said pulling the covers up and sitting up against the bed headboard. Y/N did the same and held the silky material against her chest. Thor, being the gentleman he was held out a discarded shirt from the floor and threw it to her, turning around so she could be at least half decent. This was before he winked at Peter, making the younger man hold back a smile.

"Why are you waking us up so early? God I need Fleur to come and give me more wine, my head is pounding," she chuckled, yawning and looking up at Thor pacing back and forth in their room.

"No! No wine! I-I don't know what is happening exactly but Loki is manipulating us all via that drink and we're all believing that this world is picture perfect," Thor started, looking quite manic as he tried to get as much of his information out as possible, knowing he could be apprehended by guards at any given second.

"Don't be ridiculous, we would know if he was brainwashing us with wine because when we're not drinking it, like now, we'd all see whatever he was up to," She scoffed, looking at Thor like he was on drugs and creating a vivid hallucination in his mind.

"No Y/N, listen to me. You and Peter are the only ones without these and you need to believe me when I say that Loki cannot be trusted. He deceives us every single time without fail," Thor huffed, pointing to the shock device equipped into his neck.

"I dunno man, you kind of just seem jealous of your brother because he's ruling Greater Asgard now," Peter chuckled, not understanding the severity of the situation.

"He knows he can trick us. He knows that the Asgardians will follow him. He knows that Y/N is the Magnhild and he knows he can manipulate the prophecy through her!" Thor exclaimed, using wild hand gestures as he continued pacing.

"What prophecy?"