Loki pov
After hours of us just holding the bridge between their minds, Natasha wakes up... then Y/n as well. But there's something in the way she lies still, a tear falls down her cheeks. That's when i see it, the glowing gold in her eyes. She's hungry. Wanda holds up a blood bag to give to her but she just lies there.
"Why doesn't she take it?" Wanda asks and Natasha gets up to walk over to her but i hold up my hand to stop her. I go up to her instead and know what i have to do, the only thing that'll fill the bond between us that's just about to run out. Her hungry eyes meet mine i nod, telling her it's okay. That her instincts can take over the moment she moves, the only reason she hasn't moved. And she throws herself over me, pushing her fangs down into my shoulder. I hold onto her to let her eat. Feeling it sting all over again.
Y/n pov
"What the hell is she doing?" Tony's voice asks as he comes back into the medbay and i lift my head to meet his gaze. I'm half standing, half being held up by Loki. I feel the cracks painfully slither back and the warm asgardian blood over my face. Then realisation hits and Loki lets me down to stand on my own.
"Why did you do that?" i ask in a hushed tone, we both know that the time is almost over and this will make it longer by another fifty or hundred years.
"Would you rather have let you empty out one of them?" he answers with a charming smile before he steps away and i let a small wind wipe off the blood in my face.
"Now i'm just confused" Wanda says and i can see the confusion on every as i sit back down onto the bed. The memories of the time in there come back and i'm also expecting myself to regret coming back, but as i look up to meet Natashas gaze... i'm not.
"Hi" i say with that love sick smile those teenagers in movies have, and the smile Sarah had when i dropped her off. Well, i am in love, so maybe that is the right expression. "I would say i missed you but i didn't remember you in there so..." i start to ramble but she just pulls me into her embrace. Her smell fills my lungs as i embrace her back.
"I thought you said you wouldn't leave me" her voice breaks as she takes my face into her hands. Looking deep into my eyes.
"But once again you got me back and saved me" even though it was a place i didn't want to leave. She pulls me into a bone crushing hug once again and i let out a loving sign at the feeling. I also meet Tony's smile with a smile of my own, a thanking smile that he doesn't understand just yet. And maybe he doesn't need to know that his words made me come back, made me realise that i can't leave just yet. It would probably go to his head.
"I promised to never let you go, now promise to never let me go as well"
"Never in a million years" i answer into her embrace before we part only by a few inches. I feel how my 'death' changed me in another way this time, as my stomach roars in hunger. But not for blood, but for normal food. "Now... how about some real food"
"Hey, i'm delicious" Loki says, making us both laugh as we all make our way out the door. Wanda and Tony with us. Loki stays a few steps behind us.
"I meant human food but yeah... you kinda are" and i can almost hear his victory dance in his head. But as i walk the wallway i call back for him. "Don't let that go to your head"
"I think it's too late for that" Wanda says with a laugh as Natasha holds onto my arm as we walk. We come into the kitchen and they all stand up.
"Why didn't you tell us she woke up?" Steve asks as he comes up and pulls me into a more bone crushing hug. Before he would have cracked a few ribs, when i was fully human. He still could, if he tried.
"I just woke up" i answer as Bucky takes me from Steve's embrace and into his own.
"Gods, why do you always have to scare me half to death" he says with tears into my shoulder as i hug him back.
"It's my job as big sister"
"By twelve minutes"
"Best twelve minutes of my life" i laugh with tears into his shoulder. And as he lets me down i see the rest also coming up to us. Clint embraces me in an instant and i hug him back. Then Thor does the same, before Natasha takes me back into her own arms.