A New Beginning

Chapter 17- He Was My Brother

Being up this high in the sky was a feeling Noelle didn't really miss. As many times as she had been to space and flown ships on her own, heights weren't really her thing.

She hugged her knees closer to her chest and pressed her cheek to them as she watched the white, puffy clouds float by down below outside the window of the Helicarrier.

Noelle closed her eyes. It was easy to imagine herself being somewhere else, anywhere else than here. She felt like all she had done since the Clone Wars was run from her past, and now it was all catching up to her.

She was just so tired of everything. She was tired of running. She was tired of fighting. She was tired of having nobody, of being alone.

Suddenly, she sensed someone was behind her. Looking up, she expected to see Steve, or maybe even Coulson coming to give her an update on the Tesseract or to cheer her up, but to her surprise, it was actually Thor.

She watched him as he came over and sat down on the step next to her.

"I thought you might use some company?" he said.

Noelle hadn't expected that honestly. She really just wanted to be alone. That was why she had come here, but it was a kind gesture. She nodded.

"Sure... thank you, Thor."

Thor cleared his throat. "You are welcome. I also just wanted to say, I am truly sorry for all of this. Loki would not have come to Earth if it wasn't for me."

Noelle shook her head. "You have nothing to be sorry for. Loki chose to come here."

"Because of me," Thor finished.

She was silent at that. There was no contradicting him. Whether it was the truth or not, which Noelle suspected it might be, it was not Thor's responsibility for all the lives Loki had taken.

She sighed. "I'm seriously considering forcing Loki to talk without Fury's permission. Every second we waste gives Loki another advantage. This is exactly what he wants. He wanted us to take him."

"Aye," Thor agreed. "Loki gave up too easily. It's not in his nature. Tricks are. As you said to me though, he is not our prisoner."

Noelle bit her lip. She had said that hadn't she? She glanced at Thor, who was watching her carefully.

"I think Fury is hiding something," she replied in a whisper.

Thor's blonde eyebrows immediately turned into a frown. "You think he's working with Loki?"

"No! No, I don't think that, but there's definitely something he's not telling us," she replied quietly. "I don't trust him."

"Then who do you trust?" Thor asked.

She shrugged. "Myself. And a handful of people I haven't seen in years and probably will never see again."

"If you cannot trust anyone, how will you do this?"

He was right, she knew.

"I-I don't know. I can't."

"Why?"

"Because I've been betrayed by a brother too!" she burst out. Noelle was fighting tears now. She had refused to break down in front of Fury and she wouldn't do it in front of someone she barely knew either. It seemed inevitable now though, didn't it?

"His name was Anakin Skywalker." She took a deep, shaky breath. "I understand what it feels like. What you're going through with Loki, and I'm so sorry." She forced herself to look at him.

Thor looked taken aback, and Noelle immediately hoped she hadn't offended him. She had never meant to take this so far...

Before she could say something else, Thor cut her off.