Healing Each Other (Loki Fanfiction)

Chapter 53

LOKI'S POV

"So we gotta assume they're coming back, right? And they can clearly find us," Bruce says, still pacing. I don't think he's stopped since I carefully retold the story of Thanos. It's rather irritating. And distracting. "We need all hands on deck. Where's Clint?"

"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott both took a deal. It was too tough on their families." Romanoff sighs.

"Who's Scott?" He asks, completely confused. And they thought I missed a lot.

"Ant-Man," Steve answers.

"There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man?" I roll my eyes, but Bruce continues. "Okay, look. Thanos has the biggest army in the entire universe."

"And he won't stop until he gets..." His voice falters with guilt. I shake my head. We don't have time for this!

"The Vision's Stone," I finish, nodding in his direction. Wanda moves closer to him defensively. As if she knows my thoughts. I'm sure she does, and she doesn't like them.

"Well, then... we'll have to protect it," Romanoff says, shrugging like this is actually possible. I know better.

"No, we have to destroy it," the Vision says. I glance up, surprised. The fact that he agrees with me makes this so much easier. "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its nature. But also, its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something, very similar to its own signature, perhaps... its molecular integrity could fail."

"And you with it," Wanda says, putting a hand on his arm and looking up into his eyes. She's angry, but more than that, scared. I can feel her energy vibrating in the air. "We're not having this conversation."

"Eliminating the Stone is the only way to be certain Thanos doesn't get it," I volunteer. Wanda and Romanoff stare daggers into my eyes, and I lift my hands defensively. "I'm just presenting both sides here."

"Seems pretty one-sided," Romanoff mutters. I take a peek into her mind. She's wishing Strange sent Eliza instead of me. 

"That's too high a price," Wanda says, ignoring our comments. She just stares at him helplessly, as if that can change anything. 

"Only you have the power to pay it," he says gently, taking her face in his hands. She looks away, eyes flooding with emotions, the same ones I felt when Thanos had Eliza in a chokehold. Even though I'm not on her side with this argument, I do understand. "Thanos threatens half the Universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him."

"But it should," Steve says, stepping forward to join the conversation. "We don't trade lives here, Vision."

"We don't?" I ask, the anger rising in me. Normally, Eliza would take some of it, make me less destructive. But she's not here now. "My brother, his life wasn't a trade to buy more time?"

"Thor knew what he was getting into," Romanoff says, glaring at me. I understand. No one wants to mourn right now, but that was rather insensitive. 

"Oh, did he? And we know that because we were there to help him?"

"Loki-"

"Captain, seventy years ago you laid down your life to save how many millions of people? Tell me, why is this any different?" The Vision cuts over him as a dark look crosses Steve's face. Ironic, really. The only one who understands is the one who has to die.

"Because you might have a choice." Bruce pushes his glasses up his nose and steps forward, still pacing nonstop. "Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. Jarvis, Ultron, Tony, me, the Stone. All of them mixed together. All of them learning from one another."

"You're saying Vision isn't just the Stone?" Wanda asks. It's an interesting concept, but we really don't have time to explore it.

"I'm saying that if we remove the Stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts."

Romanoff narrows her eyes. "Can we do that?"

"Not me. Not here." He shakes his head.

"You better find someone and somewhere fast. Ross isn't exactly gonna just let you have your old rooms back," Rhodes adds.

"I know someone," Steve says. I quickly enter his mind, so beyond having reservations. 

"Wakanda?" 

"We need to go now," he replies, ignoring the fact that I invaded his thoughts. "Suit up, we leave in twenty minutes." What's left of this rag-tag team disperses, leaving me to stare out the window. As much as I hate it, I need to be here. Strange will be able to protect the Time Stone if it comes down to that. Their side of the team is much more balanced than ours. I'm unsure about the fate of the Mind Stone. I need to be here, to protect it. 

But I need to be there to protect her. 

"You know, most people don't appreciate mind reading." I turn around, chuckling slightly as the captain cracks a small smile. 

"I don't appreciate your flair for dramatics. Maybe instead of pausing, you should just say what you mean," I reply easily, but worry falls back onto my face. 

"Is she safe?" Sometimes I forget how close Steve and Eliza are. He became her adopted brother when her real one left. 

"I hope so." 

"Try not to be too worried. She has Tony and Strange, but I also think she can take care of herself pretty well." He puts a strong hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry about Thor." 

"Thank you," I say quietly. I'm good at masking my emotions. There is no threat of tears. It's more of an empty feeling, someone missing. Like when my mother died. "It's why I'm still here. She's - she's all I have left." My eyes meet his. They're hard and dark, but still blue. Amazing how much I used to despise this man. "I'm willing to help, but I need to keep what I already have." 

"You will." 

Hello! I hope you all like how I've been switching chapters up a bit, considering in the original Infinity War, Loki was dead by now. There'll be a lot of POV switching for the rest of the book. Get ready, we're in for a wild ride!

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