Giftless

Chapter 14

You found yourself surrounded by flames and the laughter of the villains who surrounded your house. You could smell the smoke, feel the heat. Your bedroom was on the third floor of the mansion and you were going to die up here. No, you wouldn't, couldn't, die, afraid in your own room. You had to get out of here. Now.

You left your bedroom and instantly gagged from the smoke, coughing and choking as you tried to breathe. You fell to your knees, your subconscious remembering that the smoke rose so clean air was at the floor. You tried desperately to find the stairs so you could escape the house. You'd grown up in this house. It shouldn't be that difficult, even with the smoke, even crawling, even coughing from the smoke.

You didn't realize you were cut off until it was too late to get back to your room, to get back to any of the windows. The only way out was to get downstairs. You felt the heat increasing, felt the flames licking at your skin.

You had to go through them.

There was no other way.

You somehow made it to the first floor, somehow made it to the collapsing entryway, only to find your parents tied to chairs in your entry hall. They were already dead, both were shot in the head. You screamed for them, momentarily forgetting your need to escape from the fire around you. "No!!!" you screamed again. One of the beams collapsed, trapping you beneath its burning weight.

"Love, wake up. It is a nightmare. Kat, please wake up!" You were startled from the nightmare by cold hand shaking you, cool arms pulling you to an equally cool body. The coolness of the person was in such contrast to the memories of the fire that you stopped struggling and screaming when you were shaken from the nightmare. You opened your eyes and looked up at Loki, whose lap you found yourself in. He held you while you clutched on to him, sobbing from the memories of that night. "Shh, love, it was just a nightmare, darling." After a few minutes of him holding you, rocking you, soothing you, your sobs finally eased. You sniffled and he handed you a handkerchief, though you didn't see where he'd gotten it.

"Always the gentleman," you commented softly, your voice still hoarse from screaming and crying. You dried your eyes with his handkerchief.

"Will you tell me what the dream was about?" he asked you softly, gently, though he wasn't pressuring you to answer.

You nodded, but had to ask: "Can we go make some tea first?" You wanted to get out of this room, and tea was soothing. Loki stood, with you still in his arms. You made a surprised noise before he teleported you downstairs to where the kitchen was. You watched from the safety of his arms as the kettle flew to the sink to get water, then to the stove to heat.

You were amazed that he was using magic to make your tea so he didn't have to put you down. You didn't even protest. You knew somehow that he wouldn't think less of you for still having nightmares, unlike the other supers around you.

Soon the tea was ready. The tea poured itself into two mugs and followed you to the common room. Loki sat in one of the reclining chairs, holding you safely in his lap. Your tea floated into your hands and you sat in silence, sipping on your tea grateful that he wasn't pressing you for answers.

"It was the same nightmare I always have," you finally started to tell him, not looking up from your cup of tea. You hadn't told anyone that you still dreamt of that night, and it was hard for you to tell him now. So you spoke to the cup of tea. "It's the night my parents' died. Villains wanted to steal their money. They refused and the villains shot and killed them. I was upstairs asleep. I didn't even hear the gunshots. Then they set our house on fire. The entire house was in flames before I woke. The smoke detectors didn't work properly or malfunctioned, or something. I nearly died that night trying to get out of the house. I found my parents dead on the first floor of the house while I was making my escape. It was a miracle that Uncle Tony got to the house when he did and heard my screams. I was unconscious and badly burned when he finally got to me. I spent months in the hospital and with super healers afterwards. There's no proof at the damage, except for one scar they couldn't heal," you stopped rambling and looked up at him to see his reaction to your past.