Green sunrise | Loki fanfiction

Part 16: The rescue

Trigger warning for burns. I hope it's okay for you guys, I imagined the scene a little bit softer. Nothing too hard I think though :)
_

I stare at the soot circle. Right here was a portal. Anger rises in me. Loki was kidnapped and nobody believed me.
But how will I get to him?
I look around the dark alley, a little bit lost. Then I see a magic symbol on the ground. Or something technical? To destroy the portals always meaned to destroy some sort of projector. Tony and Clint are the experts on that.
I curse quietly. I crouch down and go with my finger over the lines. Maybe it is something technical, but it can also function with magic? That would be my only hope.
I take a deep breath and create a little ball of my sparkling magic at my fingertip. Then I lower it onto the ground.
When the magic ball meets the dark line, it hisses and dissolves, like it is flowing into a form. The colour changes from yellow to pink. I quickly stand up and watch what I created, daggers shaking a bit in my hand. Why do I have to come alone? It's scary.
The air starts to flicker and blinding pink sparks pop into existence. I hastily take another step back, preparing to shield myself or fight against someone. Then, like I switched on a lamp, a portal appears. Purple-pink light shines into the alley and I stare at the portal to another room. Or planet. Or dimension?
I look into an empty lab. That is what the room mostly resembles ... It is clearly alien technology, foreign machines and telescopes maybe?
Nothing attacks me. It seems like the room I have opened is completely empty.
I take a deep breath and step into the portal. It feels hot as I walk through, but it doesn't take me longer to go through like it would to enter a room.
As I stand in the lab, I immediatly know I am very far away. Behind the portal is a big window front, and I can see the outline of a planet in space. Which isn't earth.
For a second I am absolutely terrified. I. Am. Alone. In. Space. I clench my teeth and stamp on the ground one time.
"Stay calm", I hiss to myself. "Are you an Avenger? Damn right. Now, are you here to rescue Loki or not?"
I take a few deep breaths and break my glance away from the view of the window. That's better.
I examine the lab. Some machines definitly look like telescopes, some like microscopes and some I can't identify at all. There is only one door right to the portal, and in the middle of the room are eight desks, shoved together like one.
Suddenly, I hear steps from outside the door. I freeze and panic rises inside me again. They will discover the portal!
The steps become louder and I hastily look around the room. Next to the portal is a big red button. Rule one in science fiction is to never press the big red button.
The steps arrive at the door and I slam my fist on the button before rushing under the tables.
The portal goes out right as the person enters the room. I hold my mouth with one hand as I see two feet standing at the door, and from the motion the legs are doing, the ... person? They are looking around the room. A second of unbearable silence ensues, then the person mumbles something in a language I don't know and closes the door behind themselves again.
Relieve washes over me as I shakily remove the hand from my mouth. This was close. But now I have to look for Loki in this place.
I get up again and carefully sneak in the direction of the door. Luckily my shoes are way quieter on this marble-like ground than the ones of the person who just came in. I throw a look over my shoulder and spot a triangle shaped ... bin? I think it's a bin. Broken instruments and glass shards are inside there. And when I look attentively ...
Even here on the lab walls I can see marks of a fight. More scratches and burns on the walls, more subtle than in the alley.
My body is tense as I quietly open the door.
I peek into an empty hallway. To the left is another big window front with a better view of the foreign planet. It seems to be night, judging by the giant shade on it. The light in the hallway is dim, and the walls are out of the same marble-like material as the ones in the lab. The floor, the walls, the ceiling.
I should hurry.
I step out of the lab with my heart pounding in my chest. Then I follow the fight marks.
The scratches and burns on the walls become less quickly, but I can still see some of them. The lack of decoration makes me anxious, it seems sterile and strict. The longer I look out of the window, the more I realise that I am in some kind of a space station. A pretty big one.
I come to an intersection. There aren't more marks anywhere and helplessness overcomes me. What should I even do now? Every second could come a guard-
I hear steps. No, not again! They come from the left, and I have nowhere to go. I don't look into the corridor, they would see me on the spot. I frantically think about a solution.
In one last desperate attempt I lay down flat on the ground and press my body to the left wall. This is ridiculous. If I die like this, I hope Tony can laugh about it.
The persons steps are close and I stop breathing. I force myself to open my eyes and watch the person walk into my view.
But they go straight on, not into my corridor. The alien has a surprising human form, it's just about half a meter taller than a human. And the skin is lightly purple. It goes by without a look into my hallway and I notice keys on their belt, lightly jingling when they take a step.
I dare to breath as the alien is gone behind a curve.
Could that be the keys to Loki's prison?
I jump onto my feet and go as quickly as possible in the direction the alien came from. It doesn't take long for the hallway to end in a single door.
I take a deep breath. The door has a lock. I hesitate. Then I put one dagger away and form a magic ball. I lower it into the keyhole, and with a sizzling sound I find way too loud it melts the lock.
I grab the dagger more tight and burst into the room.
In that millisecond I see that the room is mostly empty, painted black, and a person is on their knees, chained to the ground. Loki's head flinches upwards and I immediatly know why he wanted me to come alone.
I let the door snap shut and drop the dagger.
"Loki", I whisper. "Oh my ... no ... Loki ... what ..." I stumble towards him, falling on my knees in front of him.
He is in his jotun form, blue from head to toe. And every limb is burned. I stare at his skin, the white lines only recognizable in a few places.
Loki looks at me with red eyes. "(Y/n)", he says. At least his voice is average, even if a bit hoarse. "You are here ..."
"Yes, yes I am", I respond and lift my hand to caress his face. I do not dare to touch it. A tear rolls down my cheek and falls onto his shackled hands on his knees. He flinches but sighs at the cooling sensation.
More tears flow out of my eyes, I can't stop them, and soon I am sobbing, finally gliding with a hand through his hair. "Loki, what did they do to you? Oh god, I have to heal you, I have to ..."
"Pshh, calm down", he responds softly. "(Y/n)."
The sound of him saying my name moves something inside me. "Yes. Yes, okay, I just - I will heal you!" I ball my fists and try to conjure my happy healing sparks. It doesn't work. I ball my fists harder, my fingernails cutting into my skin. "I can't!", I hiss and stare into his eyes, panic closing my throat. "There is no happiness inside me. I ..." More tears fall onto his hands. "Who did this to you? Do you have any magic left?"
Loki takes a slow breath. "I can't access it at the moment", he says quietly, like he is ashamed of admitting it.
"Oh gods Loki", I respond, wiping my tears with my elbow. "No being ashamed now. You are beautiful and worthy and everything even without your magic. For heavens sake."
He smirks lightly. "It is nice to see you too."
I stare at him, my voice still shaking a bit. "A-are you teasing me."
Loki remains with his smirking pokerface. "No."
I want to kiss him on that damn stupid mouth. Before I can do or say something more appropriate, I hear footsteps from afar.
We both freeze, Loki looking absolutely scared. Like I have never seen before.
"Are ... are this the people that did this to you?", I ask, now my voice shaking with more than desperation. "Are they?!"
Loki looks at me and I see the answer in his red eyes.
Rage rises in me on a scale I never experienced. I stand up, shaking from head to toe.
"(Y/n)", Loki's voice says to me.
I am blind to his worried glance and deaf to any words. All I feel is anger towards the people who have tortured Loki. The steps come closer.
"They will never do it again." That is a statement. A fact. A threat. Still shaking I raise my hands. I don't care about anything. The rage burns every bit of fear away, lights my insights on fire, makes me want to -
The door bursts open. The alien comes into the room, weapon drawn. I scream, loudly, I don't care who hears us, and sparks come out of my hands. Not yellow. Red, dark, angry sparks sizzle like little lightnings around my hands, following my scream, then in a ball of pure wrath they hit the chest of the alien.
It's body isn't made for the pure force of avenging anger. It splatters onto the hallway.
I stumble and turn around to Loki and the rage fades quickly. I wipe a drop of alien blood from my lip.
"Loki", I whisper and fall onto my knees again.
"Shh", he says back, with a warm, velvety voice.
I hug him, and he flinches but doesn't say anything.
"We have all been there", he whispers. "It's okay. Calm down ... quiet ..."
I cry more than before, wetting his shoulder with my tears.
"I am with you", Loki says, still with that warm, soothing tone. "Calm down. Look, you have more powers. Who would have thought that, hm?"
I know full well he is trying to distract me, and I really try to go into that. I nod, while sobbing onto him, tears rolling down his chest.
"I know you need quietness at the moment, but I also need your help. Please try to heal me again, then I have my magic. I am with you, everything will be alright."
I nod again and slowly pull away. "Yes", I say with a cracking voice and he smiles.
I look into his eyes, his genuine smile. I try to create happy feelings inside me, focusing on him looking at me. And with the greatest effort I ever needed, yellow sparks come out of my fingers.
They meet Loki's skin and he moans quietly, all the wounds on his blue skin start to heal.
"Thank you", he pants.
I nod, feeling my strength leaving me with every spark leaving my hands. When he is finally healed, my vision blurs and I sway, almost toppling over.
While fighting with unconsciousness, I hear a metallic sound, then I realize his magic broke his chains. The first thing he does is making sure I am alright, he holds my shoulders to stabilize me. I blink a few times and see that he is no longer in his Jotun form.
"Thank you", I mumble, almost sounding drunk. "You look ... ugh ..." I fall into his arms.
Loki smiles a little. "Okay, we will go home now." He carries me, and I am not sure how from time to time. Soon I hear and feel him fighting, holding me with one arm and killing aliens with the other. I mumble the directions and where to go, and he follows them. The blurred green light looks kinda cool, though.
After a time span of a length I am completely unsure about, we arrive at the lab.
"What now?", Loki says as he blocks the door and fights that one alien that made it into the lab.
"Red button", I mutter.
Loki holds me tighter and the portal appears. One last look back, and we go through.