Guardian

Chapter 52

(Loki's POV):
"Liv!" I crouched beside Liv, not caring that I was showing an emotional weakness towards her. All that mattered to me was her safety. Perhaps if I had never left her, she would never have been in this position. Her suffering was all because of me.

I breathed a sigh of relief as Liv stirred and waved me off, "I'm fine."

"No, you're not, you just passed out!"

"I'm just tired, is all," she tried to assure me with a smile, but I could tell that she was just trying to downplay what was happening to her. She didn't have much time left and she knew it, as did I.

The ship shook as it was hit with a blast, either from a ship following us or from one of Asgard's cannons. It didn't cause any damage, but Thor's reckless piloting was enraging me even more, he was going to get us killed.

"You know, this is wonderful. This is a tremendous idea. Let's steal the biggest, most obvious ship in the galaxy and escape in that! Flying around the city, smashing into everything in sight so everyone can see us, most likely getting us killed before we can even get to Svartalfheim! It's brilliant, Thor, truly brilliant!"

Thor suddenly pushed me out of the ship and a cry of surprise left my lips as I plummeted towards the water. Rather than hitting the water, however, I slammed into an Asgardian ship, where Fandral was waiting for us.

"I see your time in the dungeons has made you no less graceful, Loki," Fandral mocked as I picked myself up off of the ground.

I glared at him but my attention quickly changed to Thor, who was carrying Liv as he jumped. Jealousy swelled up within me, hating to see her in another man's arms. Especially when I knew any woman would happily leave me for the Golden Prince.

But I tried to keep those emotions buried as I admitted, "I'm impressed."

Thor gently placed Liv down at the front of the ship, before turning to me, "I'm glad you're pleased, now do as you promised and take us to your secret pathway."

I kept my gaze on Liv for a moment longer before taking the stick from Fandral. The ship picked up speed at my direction and I turned it towards the mountain, annoyed when some Einherjar caught onto the plan and began firing at us. I did my best to evade them, but they stayed with us.

Lifting the ship up above theirs, I gave Thor a look to do something. He in turn, looked at Fandral, who nodded, "for Asgard."

Fandral used the rope on the ship to descend upon our attackers and I continued on the path to the mountains, trusting that he would take care of them for us, or at least distract them long enough for us to get away.

Thor grew nervous as I steered the ship directly at the cliff side and felt excitement surging inside me. I forget how thrilling it was to have so much control, it was a stark contrast to how I felt in my cell or while in the hands of Thanos.

I quickly pushed those thought aside and lived in the revelry, "if it were easy, everyone would do it."

His eyes were still wide as he questioned, "are you mad?"

"Possibly," I smirked, making the ship go a little faster.

Thor crouched down beside Liv, protectively holding onto her as we approached the small passageway. Again, the flood of jealously rose up, but I needed to focus on lining up the ship properly. The sides screeched against the rock, but was just small enough to fit through, launching us straight into Svartalfheim.

As soon as the ship slowed to a stop, I was at Liv's side, replacing Thor as the one crouched beside her. She seemed to be sleeping, no doubt exhausted from the power of the Aether strengthening itself by taking her life force. I ran my fingers down her forearm to see the red beneath her skin, wishing that I could trade places with her.

"You truly care about her, don't you?" Thor's question reminded me that he was still there, something that I would rather forget.

But I lifted my gaze to meet his and nodded, "I do."

"I didn't quite believe it when Heimdall told me that mother thought she changed you, but seeing you together makes me wonder if she was correct. But I still don't understand why you left her."

I scoffed, "is this your way of gloating? Of informing me that this is all my fault, that if I hadn't left her then none of this would have happened? The Aether would never have attached to her and mother would not have died! You think I haven't already thought of that?!"

"Loki, I meant no-"

"There are threats out there that you know not of, powerful beings that would have my head. You expect me to stand by her, placing a target on her as well?!"

This seemed to strike a chord in Thor and his eyes narrowed in anger, "no, but if you truly love her, I would expect you to be willing to defend her!"

"Like you did? You left her with Frigga as her only defense and look what good that did!"

"What help were you in your cell?!"

"Who put me there?" I growled, standing up to face him head on. "Who put me there?!"

"You know damn well!" He cried out, shoving me down against the ship without giving me time to react. "You know damn well who!"

Thor raised his fist and I watched him, silently awaiting the impact. Begging for him to punish me for what I had done. I had hurt the only two people who cared about me in this universe, one had even died. I deserved to take Thor's rage.

But instead of hitting me, Thor lowered his hand and released me, "Mother wouldn't want us to fight."

"Well she wouldn't exactly be shocked," I replied, letting a smile creep up onto my face.

Thor returned it but still seemed burdened. He finally let out a small chuckle, "I wish I could trust you."

He turned from me and I stood up straight, "trust my rage and my determination to keep Liv safe."

Thor said nothing but took the wheel, guiding us further into Svartalfheim. I returned to Liv's side, monitoring her to make sure we didn't lose her. The mere thought of it was too painful for me to consider, my chest tightening and tears prickling in my eyes.

But instead of slipping away, Liv soon stirred, supporting herself on her elbow as she tried to get up. I quickly grabbed her shoulder, "Liv, are you alright?"

She turned her gaze to me and I gasped upon noticing that her eyes were not her normal grey color. Instead, the iris was an icy blue while the sclera was pitch black. She ignored my words and looked out towards where the ship was heading, Malekith's name slipping from her lips.

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(A/N): Ok so why was writing that bit about Thor going to punch Loki so difficult to write without making it sound kinky? I really hope I achieved a non-sexual sounding paragraph there because that took a lot more effort than it should have and we DO NOT ship Thorki here that's just a big no thank you very much. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!