love me till I'm me again - loki odinson

can't imagine a world with you gone

"Loki!" Thor shouted, panicked and lost and scared and didn't know what to do. Still standing in the doorway, Valkyrie knew immediately something was terribly wrong when, instead of rushing to her and readying themselves to escape, Loki just laid limply on the floor while Thor prompted his unresponsive body up on his lap, screaming his name in a bloody howl. That was enough for Val to learn she came in a bad time.

"Okay, what the fuck is happening?!" She raised her voice, crossing the room to the Odinsons, and got on her knees next to them. It seemed like Thor didn't even acknowledge her existence, too busy shaking his brother's body frantically it actually concerned Valkyrie that he was going to break Loki's bones.

"Thor." She said though it looked like Thor didn't hear her at all. "Thor, stop!" This time, she reached out her hand and grabbed the Thunder God's arm. It seemed to get his attention because finally, Thor looked at her, and Val had never seen pure horror in someone's eyes before. "What is going on?" She asked, loud and clear.

"I... Loki, he..." Thor stuttered with tears clouded his eyes. He never stuttered, and Valkyrie was so tempted to ask if that was a corpse Thor was holding because now that she got a better look of Loki, he really looked dead: skin unnaturally pale and chest extremely still she didn't think he was breathing at all for God's sake!

"Thor, look at me," She cupped his cheeks, trying to get him to focus on her because she knew this wasn't helping. They were all going to get caught if Thor still couldn't pull himself together. Hell, they didn't have much time, they should be on their way out by now, not weeping on the floor. "How does this happen?"

Thor just shook his head, feeling like he was going to start screaming again if he were to open his mouth. Then he caught the vial by the corner of his eye, so he grabbed it and handed it to Valkyrie as the answer. She snatched it from him, with one glance, her eyes widened. She knew too well what it was. The woman had spent time with Grandmaster before so she was familiar with stuff he used. "Shit, Thor." Was all she said. "Shit!" Now she looked angry. Valkyrie pressed her finger against the side of Loki's neck to check for a pulse, after a few seconds, which felt like forever for Thor, she said with a bit of relief. "He's still alive. But won't be for so long. How long has he been poisoned?" How long has he been poisoned. Thor wanted to laugh, really, he did want to. She thought someone hurt Loki, of course, how could she possibly know the hand that drowned the substance down Loki's throat was Loki's himself. (in which Thor, too, took responsibilities for it) Then it hit Thor with another matter that it didn't matter who forced his brother into doing this, the only thing that mattered was saving Loki, but he didn't know - Thor didn't know how long had the poison been inside his brother's body. He had his back turned all the time!

"I don't know!" He shouted like he was mad at her, like it was her fault.

"You don't know? Thor, your brother is fucking dying!"

"And I said I don't know! He told me not to look. I didn't want to look so he said I didn't have to, alright? It could be minutes. Or hour. I don't know!" Thor raised his voice even louder. He needed someone to blame, someone to take his anger on. He was losing it for real, and the words were slipping out of his mouth before he could stop them. Valkyrie went still. She looked... taken aback. Not because Thor was yelling at her, but because Thor let it happen. It was a good thing it took her only a few seconds before she blinked and got herself back together again. Arguing was a waste of time she knew Loki couldn't afford, not when his life was hanging by a thread.

"You need to get that shit out of him first before we get out, or he won't make it back to Earth."

Thor nodded without saying a word. At least, the God of Thunder seemed to calm down and started thinking straight again. Good. Valkyrie helped him by holding Loki's head still while Thor forced his jaw open and shoved two fingers down his throat. Soon enough, Loki started gagging and Thor drove the fingers down deeper till he eventually vomited there on the floor. There was blood pouring down Loki's mouth instead of bile, and that wasn't good at all. The poison had already damaged his organs, and it seemed his time was running up even faster than Thor hoped. When Thor went for his mouth again, Val stopped his hand. "That'd be enough. We don't have all night." She said, looking at Loki who was whimpering - weakly and half conscious - in Thor's arms was almost pathetic. There was no trance of the mischievous prince, she knocked out cold and chained him up in a chair that day, left. Just a dying man.