Hero (Loki & Avengers)

Twenty-Six

There is no better feeling in the world than waking up in the arms of the man who you love more than anything.

Today, on this bright and sunny late-summer morning, I feel no such thing.

I sit up straight in bed and look around at the empty sheets beside me. I slept in Loki's room last night, as I have been for the past week since my birthday.

Loki was definitely shaken pretty badly that night, and although I'm worried about him I also trust him enough to tell me if something was really wrong or if he was going to do something stupid. I'm confident I talked enough sense into him to forget about his plans.

I hop out of bed in my sports bra and shorts and tip toe into his bathroom. He's not there. I throw on my robe and run down the hall to the kitchen, then the living room, then the dining hall. Nowhere to be found. 

In one last ditch effort, with my nerves growing more and more with each step I take, I walk outside to scan the backyard for any sign of him. None.

I run into my room to throw clothes on before I tell the others I think something may have happened to him, and when I do I see a note laying on my bed. It's in Loki's messy scrawl.

I'm sorry. I have to.

My heart catches in my throat. I must stare at that note for an eternity.

He went to get me the damn apple. The one that will make me immortal. The one I specifically told him to stay away from, or else I would never forgive him.

The betrayal I feel is immediate. My life wasn't enough for him the way it is.

I walk out into the kitchen where a few of the team have begun assembling their breakfasts: Thor, Clint, Vision, Nat, and Tony.

I walk over to Thor, who notices my blank gaze and stops what he's doing.

"Loki is gone," I tell him numbly. I can't even look at him, so I focus on the countertop instead.

"What?" Thor says.

"Gone, what do you mean gone?" Clint comments, stepping over to us.

Tony heard me too, because he's already pulling up a holographic monitor from his watch and pressing a million buttons in a panic.

"This is the security cam for the vaults." He says, and flips the screen to us, "Shit. God dammit, Loki. The Tesseract is missing. He could be anywhere in the Universe by now."

"Loki, no." I whisper under my breath. He stole an infinity stone. If Thanos finds him before we do he could kill him. Even worse, if neither of us finds him he could kill anyone he wanted with that stone.

"Why would he take it? What is he doing?" Nat asks, already thinking about what his plan could be.

"He said he was going to steal an apple for me." I comment, but I have to sit down to keep from fainting, "Something that would make me immortal. Vision said he would have to kill someone to get to it, so I told him it was out of the question."

"I overheard him discussing his plans, it's true." Vision adds.

"The Golden Apples of Immortality." Thor says.

"Why didn't you tell us that Crazy was thinking up a new plan?" Barton snaps, already assembling his bow right here in the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, I thought he would listen to me." I reply numbly.

"Loki doesn't listen to anyone. It's not in his nature." Thor says sadly and spitefully at the same time.

"Okay, that's it. I'm calling a team meeting." Tony says, using his watch to say 'Conference room. Five minutes. Everyone.' into the speaker system.