The Call [Loki x Siren Fanfiction]

Chapter 36

*A/N: Just hit 5,000 reads, oh my gosh!!! Thank you to everyone who has put up with my writing and made it to this point, I appreciate all of you! As a celebration, I am posting a second chapter in one day! I honestly only thought that I would get a couple hundred total, but now I'm here!!  A special thanks to my best friend, Loontje_K ! thank you for always being here for me, you're amazing!*

What do we do? How do we fix this? Loki is gone. For the moment we still have the staff, but Thor and I both know that he's going to come back for it. We've been taking turns guarding it for the past few hours as we try to figure out how to proceed. We both agree that we should try and get Loki back before we give Fury the staff, so we can try to prove or disprove the staff's connection to him. We also both agree that it's most likely the staff that's doing this to him.

This is all such a disaster. If I had told someone right away this wouldn't be a problem. I'd have Loki, and the staff wouldn't be able to hurt anyone. I was so stupid.

No time to bask in self-hatred, I haven't swum in nearly two days and my scales are sore.

"Hey, Thor?" I shout from the living room of my apartment, not finding it necessary to stand up and search for him. We decided it would be best to alternate whose apartment we were in and to make sure that there was always one of us touching it one way or another, so Thor and I have been very close the past couple days.

I'd never really understood how much support I've needed since we picked up the staff, and how amazing it is to be able to get it off my chest. I'm pretty close with Nat, but I think she'd turn us in much more quickly than I'd like. Thor and I are on the same team. Loki's team.

"Coming!" Comes a muffled yet mighty shout from one of the rooms down the hall, shortly followed by Thor's signature loud footsteps. It's as if he's a toddler who hasn't learned the concept of inside voice. At least he's a very friendly toddler.

"How can I be of service, Lady Serendipity?" Thor asks, thundering into the living room.

"Can we switch off? I need to go for a swim," I say, gesturing to the pool behind me with the staff, the metal warm under my hand.

"Of course, do you wish me to accompany you?"

"No, it'll be fine!" I cheerfully reply, already ecstatic about getting into the water. I pass the staff to Thor and head to the pool, but just as I pass through the doorway I realize something. Something really really bad.

"No!" I cry, running back into the living room. I jump and plant my feet on Thor's chest, knocking him to the ground. I pull water through the still-open pool door and entirely submerge him in it. In the water next to him, we continue to struggle, but I finally manage to lock my arm under his chin, stopping him from being able to throw me very easily.

Just to verify my hypothesis, I hum a low note, one that most beings can't consciously recognize. No response. I knew it. I tighten my grip and continue to hold his head in the water as much as I can. I'm sweating and panting, but at least I've got the advantage of being able to breathe. Slowly Thor stops fighting as hard, and I can feel his heart pounding. Hating myself, I still don't let go.

As one final push, he grabs at my wrists and almost pulls me off, but I manage to stay put. When he finally blacks out, which I feel instantly, I drop the water and it splashes around the room. I crawl over to Thor and pry the staff out of his grasp, tucking it behind me. Then I grab him and start working on CPR. Of all the things that may happen today, killing someone is not on the list. Especially this someone.

After almost a minute, I'm about to start panicking, when he finally wakes up and coughs up quite a bit of water. I slowly wrap my fingers around the staff as tightly as I can, not taking my gaze off of Thor.

"You can drop the act," I say bitterly. Watching his reaction. Every second he spends not doing anything makes my concern that somehow I misjudged, grow. Finally, to my relief, Thor shimmers away into a green mist to reveal Loki.

That son of a zucchini. First time I see him since Thor and I; the real Thor and I; tried to intervene, and here he comes, proving my reasoning!

"How did you know?" He asks, pride slightly wounded. I can see his thoughts swirling in his mind- the internal war he's fighting. It gives me hope that my Loki is in there somewhere. Just a tiny sliver of hope, but it's more than I had an hour ago.

"Thor doesn't call me Serendipity. He calls me 'little sister.'" I say, emotionless. I sit there, just staring at him, for a moment. It feels like an eternity. Loki. Forever ago we were happy. Forever ago he sat with me in the back of a semi-truck, I was bleeding and exhausted, and he stayed there, and held my hand. Forever ago he held me at knifepoint to get me to tell him who I was. Forever ago he was really truly mine.

Loki nods, silent. The way this silence screams aggravates me.

"Why won't you just give up?" I plead with him as my emotions slip into my voice.

"Because I need it. I need the power it offers. You wouldn't understand." He says, gauging my reaction. I scoff at him.

"You're right, Loki! I don't understand! I can't understand it because I've seen what this thing-" I gesture with the staff. "Does to you, and it kills me, ok? It kills me to see you like this. It killed me every time you yelled at me, every time you threw me, every time you told me to leave you alone. It kills me to see what this thing does to you, Loki!" I tell him, my eyes welling up as my voice cracks.

He looks away from me, trying to block me out. It encourages me. I'm endangering him. I'm making him have to work to keep himself like this. I crawl over in front of him, dragging the staff behind me because I know that the moment I let go, he'll grab it or make an illusion to grab it, and he'll be gone for good.

"Please," I whimper as the tears start flowing down my cheeks. I want him back. I need him back. He doesn't respond, just keeps staring at me, hiding his thoughts.

He can hide his thoughts. But maybe I want to share mine. I grab his hand and bring it to my forehead.

"Let me show you at least. I want you to see what I think of all of this. I want you to see how much I care." His fingertips brush my forehead and I can feel him going through all of my thoughts and all of my memories. He burns through all of it, slowly, but in the same instant.

I lower his hand, letting myself feel the agonizing need to intertwine my fingers with his. It feels like we were made to be the others' better half. But I drop his hand and watch as he stares at me, trying so hard to stick to his plan. He's fighting against me. But I know he's still there.

I see the color of his eyes flash back to the deep green that I've stared into so many times. I saw the blue shimmer away, for one quarter of a second. But I saw it.

Loki shakes his head, not saying anything, and once again, I just sit and watch as he disappears again in a cloud of green smoke. I look down at my hand and note that I'm still holding the staff. My chest swells with pride. He's losing his connection to it. So now he has to come after it and try to take it back.

As I stand up and head off to find the real Thor, I steel myself for the next few days. He'll be back. Back with more tricks, more weapons to use against us. But no matter what he does, he cannot get this staff.

The only way he'll get it will be over mine and Thor's dead body.