The Witch's Familiar

Chapter 42

Loki huddled in your lap while you flew. You kept one arm wrapped around him, holding him to you tightly. You knew how much Loki hated to fly. You also knew he trusted you to keep him safe. So you kept a firm grip on him with one hand and a firm grip on your broom with the other as you flew the pair of you to wherever Sera was.

She was hunting for your friends and kept moving. You couldn't get a lock on her. You hovered in midair and pressed a finger to the comm in your ear. "Guys, I need you to draw Sera out of trying to track you down to save you. Meet me at mom's house. I'll drop the protections on it before you get there. Thor, when you arrive, draw down the biggest lightning bolt in the history of lightning bolts. I'll come the second I see it," you told them. You were beyond thankful when you heard the reassurances from the team that they would meet you at your mom's house.

It was far enough outside the city to be safe to fight a dragon if it came to that. No civilians would be hurt. You'd have plenty of room out there. And nothing important would be destroyed.

"Hold on, Lokitty," you told the cat in your arms and sped off towards your mom's house. Loki stiffened and cuddled closer to your chest as you flew. You didn't really have to rush, you needed to stay far enough out to wait for Thor's signal. You couldn't let Sera know you were here and out of the tower until the bait was here. Until she was there and you were ready to spring into action.

So you flew to a building within easy teleporting range and sat on the roof with Loki, waiting for Thor's signal. Loki's arm was around your shoulders. "Do you have a plan, love?" he asked you gently.

You nodded. You'd been over this with him already, but it made sense for him to ask again, to make sure you were really ready to do this. You weren't, but you would do it anyway. "I do. I'm going to try to reason with her first. I owe her that much. I'm prepared to do my duty if that doesn't work," you told him softly, fighting back the tears at the prospect. Loki's arm around you tightened and he pulled you to him, kissing your temple.

"I will help you, magelet. You don't have to face this alone, no matter what," he reassured you as he held you safe in his arms.

"Thanks, Lokitty. But, if it comes to that. It's my responsibility," you reminded him. He kissed the top of your head.

"I know, darling. But that does not mean that your friends, your family, will not aid you. We're here for you, my love, and we are in this together. What's happened with Sera, it is not your fault," he reassured you.

You whirled on him. "But it is! I was supposed to guide her. I was supposed to teach her and protect her. I was supposed to make sure nothing like this ever happened!!" You protested loudly with tears in your eyes. You'd failed your familiar.

Loki pulled you into his arms and stroked your hair. "Shh, magelet. It is not your fault. She is a sentient creature and grown for all that she is less than a year old," she was full grown, which happened with magical creatures. "She knows everything you do. You said that was part of the imprint when she hatched. She knows what she's doing, love, and she's making this decision of her own free will," he reminded you gently. You sniffled and looked up at him. There was a question you wanted to ask, but you couldn't. Loki saw it in your eyes, though. "This is unlike my situation, darling. I was tortured and forced to Midgard under mind control to take the tesseract and rule the realm. Sera is making these decisions on her own accord," Loki told you gently. "It's not like my situation at all," he hugged you to him and you wrapped your arms around him. He pressed a kiss to the top of your head.

You curled in Loki's arms until a huge bolt of lightning drew down from the sky. There was no mistaking it, that was Thor's signal. Especially when there were no other clouds in the sky. You stood and Loki stood with you. "That's our signal. Ready?" you asked him, checking your weapons one last time.

You knew in the back of your mind what this was going to come down to.

He nodded and took your hand in his. "Whenever you are," Loki replied.

You squeezed his hand and nodded. Time to get this over with. He teleported the pair of of you to your mother's house where you saw Sera confronting the entire team. She wasn't hurting them. She looked to be trying to figure out how to get them to come with her. They were all in uniform and all armed. You thanked every diety who would listen for that piece of luck. You might need their help if this went poorly.

Good.

You rushed in between the dragon and your friends, holding out your arms to shield them. "Sera, stop!" you told her firmly, putting all the power and authority you could into your voice.

Sera paused and looked at you confused. "Soul sister? You should be safe at the tower," she told you sounding upset and disconcerted.

"No. I should not. You should not be killing all of the humans. It's not right Seraphina!" you told her firmly. "They haven't hurt you. They're innocent. I will not let you kill them," you added. You had Loki at your side and the entire team behind you.

That didn't make the prospect of facing down a full-sized dragon any less terrifying.

And this was the biggest you'd ever seen Sera. She was huge and hulking over you. Her claws were huge, her teeth bared.

And she was a fire breathing dragon.

And you were the one standing in front of her goal.

You saw in her eyes that she wasn't going to give up. "Please, Sera. The humans are innocent. You killed the witch-hunters who hurt me. It's over now," you begged, trying one last time to get through to her.

"No. You are wrong, soul sister. The humans have hunted your kind for all of existence. I share your memories. I know this to be true. They will continue hunting you. You will not be safe until I destroy them all," Sera told you firmly, her voice a roar that nearly had you off your feet.

"Sera, no," you told her again, but you saw that she was lost. There was only one thing left to say. "I love you, but I cannot allow this. If you want to kill the humans, you will have to go through me," you told her and drew your sword.