The Call [Loki x Siren Fanfiction]

Chapter 46

I'm startled awake by someone poking my head with their boot. I'm instantly awake, spinning around, and I've got a water knife at their throat before I even open my eyes. I try to peel my eyes open, but they seem determined to stay shut. I'm really tired. After a moment, I finally get my eyes open long enough to see. It's Loki, looking quite annoyed with me. I sigh and go back to my 'bed.'

"What do you want?" I moan at him, from under the water, rolling over to get comfortable again.

"Breakfast," He says, his voice showing no emotions. Making it impossible for me to get a read on him.

"Not even a thank you? No 'thank you, Serendipity, for saving me from exile?' No 'Thank you for hauling me 400 miles down the coast?'" I ask him, rolling my shoulders to try and work out a kink. Loki sighs.

"Thank you for saving me from exi- wait. Exile? Exile from where?" He asks me, now concerned.

"Earth. They were gonna send you back. Odin and Fury had a discussion, I hear," I tell him, feigning the same annoyance he displayed. He glances around thinking.

"If they sent me back to Asgard I wouldn't leave the dungeons for the rest of my life! I- I wouldn't see you again..." He says, sounding almost tender. I snort.

"Real cute coming from the guy who tried to murder me yesterday. For the umpteenth time, I'd like to note,"

"I did what?" Loki asks me, sounding genuinely concerned. I sit up, pushing my head out of the water.

"You don't remember? You went total feral, destroyed your stuff, Fury e-vac-d everyone else from lockup because he thought you were gonna kill everyone,"

"No, I don't remember..." He says, looking up as he tries to recall the memories. "You went in there?"

"Yeah," I say nonchalantly.

"Thank you, little witch..." Loki murmurs, walking closer to me. No way no how. I raise a little water barrier and push him back with a small wave.

"Personal space bubble, Mr I'm-going-to-pretend-to-be-me-and-then-stab-you," I say, holding my arms out to demonstrate the acceptable space.

"I can't trust you, not yet. Every time I do, you end up trying to murder me one way or another, and I really don't want to hall around an unconscious you for another week." i tell him. My back is going to be sore for the next century. How on earth is he even that heavy? He doesn't LOOK heavy?

"Another week? Where are we going?" Loki asks me, growing more concerned by the second.

"I know a sandbar a little off the coast of brazil, we can probably camp there for a bit. It's remote enough, we should be good," I shrug, pulling myself fully into the cave again.

"Good from what? What am I missing here?"

"Oh, yeah, I may or may not have kidnapped you from S.H.I.E.L.D..." I admit, not meeting his eyes.

I can feel the look of 'you are an idiot' from five feet away. In my defense, I wasn't given much time to pick a better solution.

After several moments of awkward silence, I get up and head out.

"I'm gonna go find our food,"

"Stay here." I tell him as an afterthought.

This really is dumb. Really dumb. It's not like I can let him get shipped back to Asgard, I'd never see him again. I don't want that to happen. I love him, even though he's spent forever being someone else. I find the cave and slip the upper half of my body in to grab the bag, and I am greeted by an absolutely soaked bag with the contents strewn around the cave.

Great, just great. There goes my clothes, and that bag, the food is probably ok, but Nat's gun... are guns waterproof? I hope so, or she would murder me if she ever sees me again.

Calling to the water, I gather everything up and dump it into the soaked bag to haul back to the big cave. I dive down to approach the opening at the best angle, and I have to shove the bag in front of me so I can focus on maneuvering my tail through. Loki scoops it up. No!

I frantically pull myself through, my scales catching on the jagged edges, so I can try and get the bag back from Loki before he gets a chance to pull the gun on me. I emerge from the waters, to find....

Wow. Ok. He left the bag on shore, and is quite content eating some soaked fruit. He doesn't have the gun.

"What?" He asks me, regarding my shocked face warily. I shake my head and pull myself along the wet sand to lay next to him.

"Nothing... just... thinking, I guess," I tell him. Maybe he's actually back now. Actually actually. Clint did keep saying that 'cognitive recalibration' thing does the job, it's quite possible he was right. I guess I always assumed he just wanted a chance to punch Loki. Perhaps both were right.

"You thought I was going to pull the gun on you, didn't you?" Loki asks me, staring at the cave walls.

"Well... maybe, I guess. But only because you've been so unpredictable lately," I admit to him, tracing lines in the sand next to me.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't shoot you, stabbing is much more entertaining, darling," He says, deadpan. I laugh, and the awkward in the silence eases away. I breathe deeply, trying to calm my pounding heart and put the butterflies in my stomach to rest.

Slowly, and with the confidence of a 13 year old child, I slide my hand over to his, just enough that our fingers are touching. He takes my hand. He kisses my cheek. And he whispers,

"I'm sorry. For all of it. I never wanted you to get hurt, little witch."

And I know he's back.

Nearly crying in relief I turn and wrap my arms around his neck, holding onto Loki as if I would die without him. I nearly knock him over, but he wraps his arms around my waist, and we stay there like that. I missed him so much. The entire time, as I was struggling with dealing with him having the staff, and then trying to not tell anyone other than Thor, and then playing therapist; the only person I ever wanted to talk about it was Loki. I wanted to just be able to go and talk to him, and ask his opinion and what I should do, even if the only answer he would ever give me was to stab someone.

After several minutes like that, just letting myself indulge in his presence, Loki lets go.

"As much as I am enjoying this, your tail is crushing my legs," He says. My face turns red and I maneuver to get my tail off of him, which is a bit of work out of the water like I am.

The sand is getting under my scales, and it itches, so I go back into the water and float on top of it, swishing my tail around a bit underwater.

"Are you really, actually back?" I quietly ask, not knowing what answer I want and which one I expect, and even if they're different or not.

"He's gone. Whoever was in my head, he's gone." Loki tells me, certain. My chest swells with joy. This will be fine. Sure, we're fugitives from... well, Earth, and we don't have a whole lot of food, but this will work out.

It's going to work out, because I said so, and because I will rewrite our story if I have to.