Collection of One-Shots

》loyalty

"Eir," Thor greeted as he opened the door to his chambers aboard the spacecraft. She lowered her head in greeting and ushered in with an armful of supplies. "I've come to treat your wounds," Eir told him. Of all those that had been injured during the battle, perhaps his were the most serious. Thor shook his head, "other's need to be tended to," he protested.

The healer smiled, "and I can assure you that they are being tended to, my apprentices are more than capable." Knowing better to argue anymore with Eir, Thor sat on the edge of his head and watched as she busied herself with various salves and oils. She carefully wiped away the dried blood on his cheek and temple before moving to up to the skin around his now missing eye. It saddened her but at the same time, she had seen worse wounds that had been acquired during battle. A strange ephemeral smile crossed her lips. "You look more like your father, now," she noted.

Thor let out a weak laugh and looked at his reflection. In only a short span he had grown to look like a stranger. Eir turned back to her supplies and picked up a silver-gold eyepatch, similar in make to the one Odin had worn. She passed it to the God of Thunder. He held it in his palm and never lifted his gaze from it as he spoke. "Has Loki been tended to?" Eir furrowed her brows. "His side was bleeding." She paled and quickly excused herself, turning down the hall both angry and worried.

Eir did not bother knocking when she came to Loki's room, instead she pushed the door open with her hip and glared at the God of Mischief who stood in front of a mirror inspecting the slim cut on his side. "You didn't tell me." She gritted out, setting all her supplies down again.

"It's nothing," Loki shrugged, wincing as he prodded the area with his fingers. Eir frowned. "Thor needed your assistance."

"Why are you so stubborn?" She asked while unhooking his emerald cape. Eir could see his eyes roll in the mirror's reflection. He tugged his armor off overhead and stood bare from the waist up in front of her. Any other time she would have marveled at the lithe muscles that covered his torso and arms, but this time a horrified gasp escaped her lips. "Loki."

She reached out and touched the dark, puckered scar that lay between his pectorals, "How?" The question came out as a hushed whisper. He looked down and laid his hand on top of hers.

"From Svartalfheim," he answered.

Eir bit the inside of her cheek. "It didn't heal properly," she noted. It looked like some of the scars left from the first wounds she had ever tried to heal. In truth, it looked like it could begin bleeding again at a moment's notice. "I'm afraid my specialty isn't healing," there was a hint of jealous amusement in his voice. Her fingertips became alight with a soft purple hue, she touched the cut on his side and his skin mended itself. Leaving only smeared blood and faint, thin silver scar.

"You should have come to me," she scolded. Loki laughed, "And give away the fact that I had sent away Odin and taken his place?"

She shook her head, from the first time Odin had summoned her into the throne room after the convergence she knew it was Loki, and yet she had not told a soul, not even Thor who believed his brother was dead. "I wouldn't have told anyone. You know that."

"Eir," Loki gripped her chin between his thumb and forefinger, unyielding to her attempts to pull away. "You may be a skilled sorceress, but I can see through your illusion." The healer frowned as Loki released her and in a shimmer of purple, the façade of strength and duty is gone. She flinched and braced herself against the column in the middle of the room when the pain washed over her. Loki pressed his hand to her back and blood coated his fingers. A sickening sight. "You are the one who needs to be tended to," Eir said nothing in turn.

Loki pushed the neck of her gown over her shoulders, the stained material gathered around her waist and revealed the cut that spanned from shoulder to hip across her pale back. It was a slim cut, not deep either, but it bled and would scar. "How did this happen?" He asked, taking up the damp that she had used for him.

"On the bridge," she sighed, "there was a scared child, so I shielded her with my own back from the dead." The little girl had been crying, her parents most likely dead as Hela's army advanced. She had picked up the little girl and turned, baring her own back to the enemy to save the child.

He sat down the stained cloth and touched the other small scars and marks on her waist and shoulder with astounding gentleness. "Can you not heal it?" Loki asked, genuinely confused.

"My ability comes with a price. I cannot heal myself," she said, looking over her shoulder at Loki. He wasn't looking at her in that moment, his brows were in a deep furrow as he began to dapple a poultice over the cut. "But in the end, everything works out, because I can heal the ones I love." His eyes flashed up to meet hers. There was a soft smile on her lips despite the stinging pain across her back. "We used to be so close, Loki, what happened to us?" He said nothing, only continued his ministrations in silent concentration.

He situated a clean, white bandage over the cut and helped her readjust her dress. Eir turned and looked up at him and Loki could not remember the last time someone had looked at him with such an expression. She went to thank him for his help, but before she could say anything Loki had pressed his lips against hers.

She tasted just as he remembered, sweet and innocent. She was good to the very core of her being. Eir sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck, returning his kiss without hesitation. She had missed this, missed him. When they parted, Eir felt heat come to her cheeks and stead of meeting his soft gaze, she pressed her head into the center of his chest and threaded her fingers between his.

Loki knew she had to continue carrying out her duties, but even with that knowledge, he pressed his cheek against the top of her head. "Don't go," he pleaded, it had been too long since she had been in his arms. "Stay with me," he whispered. And she did.