A Child of Mischief (Loki/Avengers story)

44. Winds of Change

"I think the boys should hear what's about to go down, don't you think?" Cora asks as she looks to Olivia as she exits her room.

"Oh, most definitely. And Nat as well." Olivia says as she and Cora begin to walk down the hall. Switching her communicator back to its regular channel, Cora calls out to the rest of the team.

"Dre, Peter, Nat meet us at the throne room." Cora says as she and Olivia turn the corner away from their rooms.

"On our way." They all respond in unison. As Cora and Olivia get closer to the throne room, Cora has a thought and turns the channel on her communicator.

"Uncle Thor, come to the Southeast hallway around the corner from the throne room." Cora says, the line is silent and Cora stops in the hallway and leans up against the wall, crosses her arms and waits.

"What are you going to do?" Olivia asks as she stops and leans against the wall behind Cora on her left side.

"Something I should have done two weeks ago." Cora turns her head to Olivia and says as she pushes a stray piece of hair behind her ear. Just as Cora turns her head back to the hallway, Thor rounds the corner. He stops mid-stride as he takes in Cora's appearance.

"Something has changed within you. I'm not sure if I should be terrified or impressed." Thor says as he finishes walking to Cora and Olivia.

"Well, being struck by lightning and getting slammed into an ice wall will do that to a person." Cora says as she pushes herself off the wall.

"Yes, I suppose that can happen." Thor says and lets out an uneasy laugh.

"Cora, I must tell you—." Thor begins to say, but Cora holds her pointer finger up at him and he stops talking.

"If you are going to try and apologize for the thousandth time, please don't. I feel that it's my turn to apologize." Cora says, Thor looks at her with wide surprised eyes.

"I finally began to understand why you had been so hostile and where all the animosity had come from, and right as I figure it out, you feel the need to apologize." Thor says as he looks off into the distance and lightly chuckles.

"Regardless, this is the proper thing to do. After all, I did throw you around the throne room the other day, and slap you a few times. I would say it was all built up anger, but it was really because I couldn't see why you had kept the truth hidden for so long." Cora says as she explains why her apology is important.

"You finally saw that it was all for protecting those that mattered the most?" Thor questions as he tries to see if that is what Cora is referring to.

"Somewhat, yes. Although it took nearly six... six times of almost dying to see that." Cora says as she looks at Olivia when saying the number of times she had almost died, Olivia nods at the number Cora says.

"That and your definition of 'protecting those that mattered most' seemed to be severely unclear until recently." Cora says as she straightens up her posture.

"But, you did finally see what it was all for?" Thor asks, Cora cracks a small smile and nods, a wide smile begins to form on Thors lips.

"My safety and Asgard's safety as well, granted for a moment it seemed as though you were more concerned with Asgard's safety over my own." Cora says as she nods her head toward Peter, Andre, and Natasha who all stand at the corner closest to the throne room. Thor turns and see's the others standing at the corner, he looks back at Cora who has a devious smile planted on her face as she looks to those at the end of the hall.

"Am I missing something?" Thor asks, Cora looks back to Thor and puts the devious smile away and replaces it with a normal smile.

"Not yet, your not. But, back to what I was trying to say, I'm sorry for my behavior and my inability to follow given orders." Cora says, Thor lets out a laugh and Cora looks at him puzzled.