Intertwine

63 - Thrangians, Giant Boars

ROARA

"Do you actually want me to kill you?" I threw a knife at Loki's head. Of course he grabbed it by the hilt and threw it back.

"You couldn't kill me if you tried!" He snarled. I ducked and my knife lodged itself into the plank of wood we'd set up behind me.

I sighed and limped over to the knife, pulling it out. It had landed just outside of the middle of the bullseye.

"Your form is off." I told him, throwing the knife over my shoulder.

"Yes, well I did nearly die." The blade whizzed past my ear as I turned back to face him.

"That's not an excuse, that was like four days ago now, you're fine." I threw a fireball towards him. It was weak and he sidestepped it with ease.

"They're not getting any bigger Roara." He said, looking at the circular burn marks around the room where we'd been training.

"I can see that Loki." I replied icily. "It's pretty evident."

"If anything I think they're getting smaller." He peered at one of the marks. I rolled my eyes and swiped through the air, pushing him off his feet with a gust of wind.

"Don't be rude about my powers." I muttered. "They're the only reason you're still alive."

He sat up on the floor, arms stretched out behind him to support his back, and tilted his head at me.

"We can't stay here, you know."

I glanced around the cave. Wooden bullseye's for target practice, a hammock made out of vines, scratches on the wall where we'd played noughts and crosses. I didn't want to leave. This place felt safe. No Ascendency, no being a hero. We'd been eating what food I could grow with my powers and what Loki hunt in the forest below. It was quite an ordeal getting down there, what with my leg, so I'd only been down once, after that Loki had gone without me.

I held out my hand to him, and he gripped it. I pulled him off the floor.

"I said we would leave when we were both better." I reminded him.

"Yes but Ro, you're not getting better." He looked me up and down slowly.

I bit my lip. He was right. While he had healed in a matter of a day or two, my leg was showing no signs of healing, the side of my face still covered in scabs.

"I don't want to go." I whispered. This place was peaceful. I hadn't felt peace like this since I'd joined the Avengers.

"I know." He put a hand on my shoulder. "But we need to find you someone who can help with your leg." He sounded concerned, as though that really was the only reason he wanted to leave.

We'd begun to get sick of each other on day two, and we'd spent the entire day yelling at each other and throwing knives and energy blasts around when we'd got angry. So we decided to put our time to good use, setting up training stations and correcting each other as we practiced. Loki taught me knife tricks and I was teaching him how to mimic powers. I'd figured since he used magic that he might at least be able to mimic the energy people used and therefore mimic the powers. It was working, slightly.

"Tomorrow." I promised. "We can leave tomorrow."

"That's what you said yesterday." Loki replied, picking a knife up off the floor. "But fine. We can leave tomorrow."

"Are you going to throw that, or what?" I asked him.

He threw it. I caught it, mid-air.

We looked at each other. Well that was new. I hadn't been able to do that before.