Little angel

(19) Something is off

Loki's POV:

I'm woken by two things- one being the harsh, bright lights in the room and the other being some one shaking me awake. I swat away whoever was trying to wake me "Loki wake up!" It was Peter. "mmm What Peter" I grumble "Just wake up, it's really important!" I sigh and roll back over looking at Peter who is smiling from ear to ear. "yes?" He quite forcefully turns my head to look over at a very confused Ivory.

"Ivory?" she looks over to me and a smile creeps across her face. She charges at me, talons out and everything, bringing me into a hug. She straddled me, clutching me as she whimpers into the crook of my neck. "How are you feeling little one?" I gently stroke her now shoulder length hair to try and calm her down "I-I did something very bad thing..." I carefully let go of her to look at her, I lift her chin up to get a good look at her. "Hey, hey look at me kiddo... What happened?" She couldn't decide whether to say it or not "I..I killed people..I didn't want to but...I did it" I pull her closer and gently rub her back to try and calm her and her breathing. "It'll be fine little one...we'll work something out okay?" I wanted to comfort her some more but I know what will happen when Fury hears of this, even he can't ignore this no matter how much he wants to. I sigh and lean my head back onto the glass wall.

 
Peter's POV:

Ivory wasn't her light bubbly self when she managed to speak to Loki, which I think every one would expect at the moment. Between her whimpers and the echo the room gave off her conversation with Loki was barely auditable to me, in the end I thought to give them some space, so I left. I come back in at lunch time knowing neither of them have probably moved an inch from when I left. "you guys hungry?" I hold up two plates with sandwiches on them. Loki put his finger to his lips and hush me, after walking in I noticed how calm Ivory was being. "poor thing was tired from bawling her eyes out." He states as he gently places her beside him so he can eat and not cause her any discomfort. I wait for him to finish his food before asking, "How is she doing Loki?" He sighs and gently strokes her short slightly bloodied hair, "Not great to be honest Peter. We barely gained her trust before hand and now she's been through more abuse, it'll take some time for her to warm up to everyone again. But the worst of it is although her memory is slightly fuzzy due to the drugs, she remembers nearly everything she did. The things she was ordered to do..."

He trails of mid-sentence obviously not wanting to finish. "I just want the little kid who wakes me up at 7 am by jumping on my bed again." I feel myself tear up "Does she hate us for not getting there quicker?" I sit with my legs up to my chest and lower my head. An arm grabs my side and I'm pulled next to Loki, he strokes my hair and lets me lean on his shoulder. "Look kid, the best thing we can do for her right now is be there for her when she needs us. Remember when she'd have nightmares and me and Thor spent the night keeping her company or when she escaped from us and flew in through the school window?" I nod wiping away the few tears that managed to escape. "Like we were there for her she was there for us. Be it comforting each other or just having fun together. We will help her get back on her feet and back to be healthy and happy, Okay?" I smile a little and nod. It seems me and Loki have gotten closer thanks to Ivory, even when she wasn't here we talked about our time with her almost as a comfort to remind ourselves of those times before thing started to look bad.

No one's POV:

A few days pass; there isn't much change with Ivory. Her, Loki and Peter are getting closer, but she is struggling with Nat and Bucky the most. Bruce thinks it might be due to now knowing the presence of an assassin she is scared. They understand so they're trying to take things slow. Steve, Tony and Thor have gotten closer but not to the point where they can go inside her sleeping quarters.

A week later things looked like they were improving, although Ivory still wasn't all that healthy she has gained some weight back and is trying to socialise more, but it's obvious that something is off with her. No one in the team can quite put their finger on it but it almost seems like she's beginning to distance herself from everyone. She'll hang out with Peter and Loki like there's no tomorrow but she now draws a clear line with them. She won't tell them how she feels or what she's thinking and she's more spacy than usual, the team will often find her staring at random objects, not moving an inch until she realises some one is staring at her. Another thing that hasn't gone unnoticed is her sleeping habits and training habits. Before her sleeping was irregular and short lived but now it was more scheduled, still as short lived maybe even worse. She'll only be comfortable sleeping with Loki, Peter and Steve around her if it's anyone else she'll go hide and sleep away from everyone else. Then her training, before she found it fun and often got distracted so they never ended up doing all of it or ended up doing something else, now she'd finish her workout then do something else. That something else was her favourite equipment, the rings and  the trapeze bar, and a new found one was the aerial hoop. When she had music on and went on one of them, it was like she was in her own world, like nothing else mattered. It was the only time most the team could be around her without alarming her. Sometimes she'd even sing and like you'd expect they found her singing heavenly.
But once she was out of her trance, she flies down to crawl over to Loki as he's usually around her just in case- by crawl its actually her walking on all fours and sadly her body adapted to walking like that so a lot of work was put into her walking upright again. That took two weeks to get right although her posture was still a little off but that was understandable.

 
Like you'd expect after what has happened nothing is quite the same with her or any one on the team. But things are getting better and they're all acting more like a family again. Half a year passes and Ivory's rehab is nearly over. It's mid Autumn and the team has just come back from another enhanced attack, all back with minor injuries. Tony has some scorched hair for teasing the kid. Ivory laughs at the sight. Everyone in the team looks at each other then at Ivory "Did you guys hear that too or am I hearing things?" Tony points towards Ivory who is sprawled across the couch watching them "Yes, I believe I heard Lady Ivory laugh as well" Thor smiles. Loki pushes passed everyone and walks over to the couch and gently strokes Ivory's hair "I've never been more happy to hear your laugh little one" She chirps in response and places her head against Loki's before climbing off the couch to pounce onto Peter, who has yet again fallen prey to Ivory jumping him. "seriously ivory your starting to get a little big for this don't you think?" He laughs, she tilts her head then shakes her head "nope" Peter sits up and carries Ivory back to the couch "so what did you do to get everyone frozen?" He teases as he sits them both down "Lady Ivory laughed Peter" Peter's face lights up and he squishes Ivory into a bone crushing hug "that's awesome!" After releasing her from the hug, he looks up at Tony "you think she's ready to be out in the field soon?" Tony leans on the couch "I think she'll do alright with the smaller missions, maybe a little longer until she can do more dangerous ones just in case she gets stuck in the past or goes crazy." He finishes and ruffles Ivory's shoulder length hair which she returns with a growl.