Hero (Loki & Avengers)

Thirty-Three

By the time I reach his apartment, the sun is already peaking up over the horizon. It's morning.

Dylan Connors was my best friend. I loved him. He betrayed me. He tried to kill me. Then I died, and his life went on as normal. He graduated college, got a job, and has a little apartment in Manhattan. A fine life. One he doesn't deserve.

I sit at his small kitchen table, lounging back with my feet up. I wait for him to wake up, all the while seething with rage.

Finally, I hear him stirring and a few minutes later he lazily walks into the kitchen. He opens the fridge to look for some breakfast.

From behind him, I say a cheerful, "Morning, Dyl."

He freezes. I can practically see the chill run up his spine. He slowly turns around and sees me sitting there at the table, and his face whitens like he's juse seen a ghost.

I suppose he has.

"Ca-cassidy?" He says, and it admittedly throws me off guard for a moment that he sounds almost relieved to see me.

"In the flesh." I reply.

"I thought you were dead." He breathes out, sounding like he needs to catch his breath after he says it.

"Sorry to spoil your happiness, seeing as you tried to kill me and all." I snap at him, my words filled with all the venom and ice I've saved for Dylan this past year.

"I wasn't happy you died. I was devastated." He says, sounding honest, and I scoff.

I throw my legs off the table and stand to face him.

"Don't lie to me." I practically growl.

"You don't have to believe me, but you can't call me a liar. Your death crushed me, Cas." He replies, and my anger grows.

"Bullshit!" I scream, kicking down the chair I was just sitting in. Frustration oozes out of me. I wanted him to fear me, to beg for mercy, not to confess his heartbreak.

"Cassidy, I was wrong!" He raises his voice as well, not in anger but probably just so I actually hear him over the ringing in my ears from this sudden overwhelming anger.

I laugh a cynical laugh.

"After you died I snuck into the lab to snoop around, because my gut was telling me I never should have turned my back on you. I found out everything, all the bad things my dad did. You really were trying to help me, because he set up the hijacking himself. He told me you were insane now, and that you couldn't be trusted, and that if we let you go you were going to kill everyone I knew and loved. I am so sorry I betrayed you, but my dad he...he brainwashed me. He lied to me. I don't speak to him anymore, neither does the rest of my family. I just wish I didn't believe him." He spills out his little story.

I feel the most pure form of anger bubble inside my chest, like a glowing spehere that begins to spread through me and fill me with the most honest fury I've ever felt. The fury of heartbreak.

My heart aches because of him. I hate the feeling. I grew up loving him, and what he did to me tears me apart still.

"Stop." I warn him, with my fists clenched and tears welling up in my eyes.

"No, you need to hear me. Cassidy, I am so sorry. I was destroyed when you died. I love you, and seeing you here makes me so happy that-" He says, and the word hits me like bricks. No, not love.

Happy.

"Happy?" I cut him off, my voice low and trembling.

He doesn't keep speaking.