The Before [Prequel- Part 1]

"You won't lose us."

~~~Catherine's pov~~~

I was vaguely aware of Loki running towards me and then a column of bright light appeared in front of him and just like that, he was gone.

Gasping for air as the pain in my shoulder continued to immobilize me, I used my uninjured arm to grab the distress beacon in my pocket.

I didn't know what exactly happened to Loki, I just knew that he had been taken by the BiFrost to who the hell knows where.

My head was clouded with agonizing pain, but I was conscious enough to activate the distress signal that would notify my dad and tell him my location.

But I didn't think he would get there in time. I knew how much blood I had already lost.

And second, by second, the darkness that was flooding my vision threatened to cover me completely.

"Catherine!" I heard a voice call out from somewhere to the left of me, and the darkness receded. "Catherine!" The voice got louder and I finally recognized it to be Loki's.

Turning my head as much as I could possibly manage, I saw him running over to me.

He was back.

But the BiFrost just took him away... How is he already...

He was kneeling beside me within seconds, fear washing over his face as he saw my condition.

"Loki..." I murmured weakly, wincing in pain as I spoke.

"I'm here. You're going to be okay, I promise." He said quickly, placing his hands on my shoulder to try and heal me.

But it was too late. And I knew that.

"Loki," I called out weakly. "Loki, stop."

He looked down at me with wide eyes, blinking back tears. "No. No, you're going to be fine." He shook his head when he realized what I was saying and kept using his magic to heal me.

"I'm not." My voice broke as I spoke. "And that's okay." I used the last of my energy to grab his hand, entwining it tightly with mine.

I didn't have much longer left, I could tell. The world was turning dark and the urge to just close my eyes and drift off to sleep was overwhelming.

What was strange about it was that I wasn't scared. There was a certain calmness about it. All I had to do was give in-

"Darling, look at me. Please. Keep your eyes open." Loki remained in denial and continued to heal me, even though I was far past the point of saving. "I won't lose you."

"Loki-" I tried to tell him I was a lost cause, to give up before he used too much magic to heal me, but he just cut me off, refusing to believe it.

Tears ran down his face as his panic grew. "No. I have lost everyone who ever mattered to me. I lost my mother and I may have just lost my brother. I will not lose you and our daughter!" He focused even more of his energy on healing me and I finally started to feel a difference.

His magic was working.

It was working slowly, but I felt the pain receding and the urge to give into the darkness wasn't as strong.

That didn't mean that my eyes weren't heavy and that I didn't want to drift off into unconsciousness.

I started to tear up as I looked up at him and my eyes began to close. "You won't lose us," I assured him weakly and then I surrendered to the overwhelming feeling of sleep.

"Catherine? Catherine, stay with me!" Loki's voice slowly began to fade to nothing as the world around me turned black, the last thing I heard being the roar of a quinjet's engines.