They got the stone.
After they closed that portal behind them, there was no telling where in the universe they went. The battle finished up when all of the beasts left behind on Earth were killed, but somehow it still felt like a defeat.
Peter Quill is now here with more beings that call themselves the Guardians. Some of them are very nice, and others don't talk much.
Peter is incredibly funny, albeit a little bit strange, but he's upset that his portal let the aliens in.
Doctor Strange also came just as the battle finished, and he's not pleased we lost an infinity stone either. Of course, most people don't know that I had it and Loki let it go.
I didn't think telling them that would help. I don't think anybody else saw it, either. But I did, and that's all that mattered.
Loki saved my life at the risk of the entire universe. Looking into his oceans for eyes I felt safer than I ever have, even though there were hundreds of aliens all around trying to kill us. He may have trouble saying it, but Loki cares about me.
I'll never look at him the same after that. He is...unequivocally good.
All of us just flew back to the compound and took a break before our big group meeting to discuss the consequences of the stone getting away.
I peeled my suit off of me, which now has gashes in it from the fighting, and took a scorching shower to clean the foreign blood from my skin.
The blasts from the alien scepter across my back and legs is still a fresh and sore wound, but it's already beginning to heal. Just much slower than the rest of my already sealed cuts. I wince as I pull a soft cotton shirt on.
I walk into the hallway to head to the conference room, and as I pass by Loki's room I notice Thor inside. I go invisible and peer in, curious.
"I'm not mad, brother. I'm...proud." Thor tells Loki, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Proud? Well, thank God." Loki replies sarcastically.
"I mean it. You saved her life and lost the orb." He says, referring to me.
"I did." Loki responds.
"What has become of you brother? Are you growing soft?" Thor teases with a laugh.
"Soft? No." Loki scoffs, but then pauses. "It's just...perhaps these humans aren't as totally useless and mindless as I thought."
I smile and shake my head. That's such a Loki way to say he might actually care about me.
"No, perhaps they're not." Thor replies.
"Don't give me that look brother, I know what you're thinking." Loki challenges Thor's smirk.
"No you don't." Thor insists.
"Yes, I do. And it's completely ridiculous." Loki replies. I try not to be offended.
"Ridiculous, yes, and also very cute." Thor responds.
Loki mutters something like, "Oh, piss off," under his breath as he stands and leaves the room to go to the meeting. I press against the wall so he doesn't bump into me. Thor follows after a minute or so.
He passes by my invisible figure, and stops right in front of me.
"It's not polite to eavesdrop, you know." He says quietly. Shit. I'm caught.
I phase back in with a sheepish smile.
"I grew up with the God of Mischief. I've gotten pretty good at detecting when someone's spying on me." Thor says with a small smile.
"Sorry." I tell him.
"Don't be. I'm glad I caught you alone for a moment. I want to say something to you, and I mean no offense by it." He says.
"Alright..." I reply hesitantly.
"Loki is the most independent man I know. You may wish to get close to him, but you won't succeed. He wont allow it." Thor tells me, and I deflate a little bit. I immediately feel defensive, but I force myself to bite my tongue because Thor isn't trying to hurt me by saying this.
Loki is his brother, they've grown up together for their whole lives. Thor is only trying to warn me.
"I can try." I reply.
He places a hand on my arm and smiles. "You can. And I really hope you do."
I nod at him, and he walks away towards the conference room. I guess Thor saw Loki save me, and has his suspicions about us too.
I'm not even sure what we are, but we're something. He's something to me, at least.
I process all of that for a moment, then I sigh and follow after Thor. I walk in to the room last, as it appears the conversation has already started.
"That's not what I'm saying. I'm wondering why Thanos knew there was a stone on Earth at all." Tony says over a chorus of voices.
I silently slip back into the room, sitting near the end of the table in one of the last few empty seats. I sit beside Wanda and one of the Guardians, an intelligent racoon named Rocket. When I first saw him I thought I was hallucinating. Then I saw his tree friend Groot and I was positive it was fake. But no, they're both real.
Honestly, nothing surprises me anymore.
"Hey, it's not about the stones, it's about how he knew exactly where the portal and my ship were." Peter Quill adds.
"Well the energy blast from you making the portal with the stone would have been so great anyone in the universe could have found you if they were looking. The question is how did Thanos know to be looking." Banner adds and Natasha lets out a groan.
"Can we quit answering questions with more questions?" She says.
"I'm with red over here." Rocket beside me says, gesturing to Nat and her red hair.
"It's Natasha." She smiles somewhat snarkily.
"It's irrelevant." Rocket answers and Clint rolls his eyes.
I look over at Loki across from me, but he doesn't look up from staring at his lap in his chair.
"Settle down, guys. The fight's over. I know some answers would be great, but at this point it doesn't matter. Thanos has the power stone. How are we going to get it back?" Cap chimes in, being the voice of reason.
"Thank you for corralling the troops, Captain." Tony says, "Thoughts, anyone? Groot how about you, what do you got?"
"I am Groot." Groot mumbles, looking up from his video game console.
"That's what I thought." Tony replies, and I smile.
"Why don't we just find the big purple asshole and take the stone back?" Rocket suggests.
"I will kill him with my bare hands." The large green man, Drax, says.
"And how do you suggest we find him?" Tony asks.
"Maybe we can lure him out with another stone, and then blast him with something." Peter suggests.
"We can't risk that." Thor chimes in.
"None of this matters." Gamora, the other green Guardian, says. She has a calm demeanor, but looks as tough as they come.
"'Scuse me?" Tony says.
"None of these plans matter. We're not getting that stone back. I know Thanos. He's impossible to beat, especially with the power stone." She replies.
"I'm sorry, did you just say you know Thanos? Care to elaborate?" Tony pries.
"He's my father." She reveals, and the room falls silent.
"Shit." Clint says, sitting back in his chair.
"So then you must know why he's doing this. What does he want?" Cap asks her, thinking logically.
"He means to balance the universe...by killing half of it. With all of the stones, he could do it with the snap of his fingers." She says, snapping her fingers for effect and sending a chill through my spine.
"How do we stop him?" Wanda asks.
"He knows we're here. He'll be back. We just can't let him get any more stones." She says.
"Okay, we can play defense." Tony says.
The conversation sputters out after that, when everyone realizes we've discussed this enough for one afternoon. It's late, and we're all exhausted.
Everyone files out of the room, but I realize I've had a nagging feeling since they were talking about how Thanos knew to come here. Loki leaves, and I follow him to his bedroom. I close the door slowly behind me, but he doesn't turn around to look at me.
He simply stares out his window at the night.
"Loki, please don't be hurt when I ask you this. But...was it you? Did you call Thanos?" I ask him, because the thought sprung into my head and I can't shake it.
"I'm not hurt. It's only natural you'd assume that." He responds coolly.
"No, it's not. It shouldn't be. It's my fault for thinking it, I just wanted to be sure it wasn't you." I say, because I feel terrible for even thinking it.
"I didn't call him." Loki responds and relief fills me.
"I'm sorry I even asked." I tell him, smiling.
He finally turns around and walks over to me, "Cassidy, I didn't call him...this time."
I wait for him to elaborate.
"Thanos and I have been working together for far longer than I care to admit. I wanted power and he wanted to give it to me. It was too sweet a deal for me to pass up. He knows the Tesseract is here, because I told him where I was taking it. That's why his sights are now set on Earth, because of me." He tells me, and I can tell it's painful for him to say it all out loud, "But I'm not helping him anymore. I refuse."
"Why?" I ask, too stunned with this information to think of a better question.
"I guess I had a change of heart." He says, with a small half smile creeping up on one side of his face. I look up at him with my eyes wide.
"Because of Earth?" I ask innocently. He steps closer to me.
"No." He says.
His hands grab my sides. He looks at me intently.
"Because of you." He adds.
And for the first time in a long time, I feel peace.
The burning feeling returns to my chest, and it fills me with a warm and comfortable glow. I close my eyes, and bring my lips to him.
I don't care about the consequences, or about what anyone has to say about this. Nothing has ever felt more right to me in the world than my skin on his skin. I grab his hair in my hands to bring him closer to me, though at this point that's not even possible.
And I know he's dangerous, and I know this thing we have is the most improbable connection that has ever happened, but none of that matters to me anymore.
I know how I feel. I think I know how he feels as well.
We finally pull away from one another, stealing a few last kisses before I let go of him and instead loosely wrap my arms around his waist.
I lay my head on his chest, listening to him breathe, and he slowly rubs my back.
This broken man. This beautiful man.
I need to tell him how I feel. He deserves to hear it. I fear in his life he hasn't heard enough good things about himself.
"Loki, I have to say something." I pull away from him so I can get a better look at his face. His expression turns more serious, and he sits on the end of his bed, gesturing for me to sit down beside him.
I hesitantly do. My stomach suddenly feels like it's doing flips from my nerves. I've never had to tell somebody this before. I've never even felt this before.
He can sense my anxious energy, so he grabs my hands in his and kisses them once softly.
"It's all right. You can tell me." He says and I nod.
"Sorry, I'm not good at this type of thing. Okay, here it goes." I take a deep breath, and begin letting my thoughts flow. "Loki, I care about you, a lot more than I thought I ever could. I don't know when or how it happened, but somehow you are the only person who makes me feel truly alive. Like I belong here."
For some reason, telling him that wasn't hard at all. And seeing him smile because of it makes this the easiest thing in the world.
"But it's more than just caring about you. I mean, when I see you, my heart jumps. I've never felt anything like this before. And I'm sorry about telling you this, because I know I'm probably scaring you, but-" I begin.
Suddenly, his expression turns weary. He lets go of my hands and stands up.
"Cassidy, be cautious of what you say." He says, and I can sense the panic in his tone.
I know he thinks so low of himself, that he probably doesn't want me to feel this for a man like him, but I do.
"Trust me, Loki, I know what I'm getting myself into." I reassure him, standing and walking over to him again.
"I fear you don't." He answers, looking at the ground and shaking his head.
"Well then maybe I just don't care." I say, and he finally looks up at me. "I love you, Loki."
His eyes widen, like what I've just said is the most shocking thing he's ever heard.
He laughs a little and shakes his head again, "You don't mean that."
"I do. You just don't believe me." I tell him the truth he probably doesn't want to hear.
He sits back on the bed.
I have to admit, I'm a little bit hurt he didn't say it back. I know this is a lot for him, because he probably has never had anyone other than Thor and his mother love him. And nobody in the way I do.
I sit beside him, and my compassion for this man takes over again. I lay my head on his shoulder and sigh.
"I'm sorry." He whispers.
"I'm not." I reply.
I mean it. I'm not sorry for saying any of that to him. I love him. I wanted him to know.
He kisses the top of my head and I smile.
We'll be alright.