twelve
"win the war"
When Lusine came to, her wounds were stitched tightly together and she ached with every breath. Forcing her eyes open, her entire body jolted at the sight of another set staring right at her from the bed alongside her.
"You're alive then," Casia commented, evaluating the state of the goddess who'd almost shattered her skull, regarding the stark bruise along her cheek with a subtle graze of the eye.
"I'm sorry for what I did to you," Lusine replied, shuffling closer to the edge of the bed and craning her neck to see Casia better, to peer into those shut-off eyes and make her see that she truly meant every word she spoke. That there was no trickery. No mischief. "I was not in control of myself."
"Clearly," Casia said, lifting her broken arm plastered in a cast up. "Almost killed me."
Lusine blinked, remembering the power that had worked her like a machine. "I should have killed you." Though her words sounded devious and hateful, there was not even a shadow of that as she spoke with a soft and raspy voice that barely rose to meet Casia's ears.
"I'm sorry?" Casia's purpled face, where Lusine's hands had gripped her, took a dim view of those words, rising from her pillow and swinging her legs over the side of the bed, sitting, but prepared.
"The way I..." Lusine took a breath, "the way I attacked you should have killed you. It would have killed any other mortal."
"I guess I was lucky," Casia responded, tracing a finger along the scrawled name on the white of the cast. "So, you fought Loki? Is that why you're here?"
Lusine swallowed and shook her head. "No. I fought Cathal and won," She said, grimacing as she sat up and leaned back against the metal backboard.
"You don't seem happy about that," She noted, shoulders tensing as Lusine pushed her legs over the side of the bed and sat facing her with a face as grim as the reaper himself. "Was it bad?"
"Bad is an understatement and a half for killing your own cousin to defend someone who might just go on to destroy this world," Lusine replied, rolling her shoulders, testing the healing's boundaries with every click and crunch of her bones as she ironed out the creases.
"You should be resting," Steves voice said sternly as he marched into the quarters, arms folded across his chest, but the mock frustration was flawed by the worry etched across the lines of his face.
"Well," Lusine stood, wincing as her injured leg strained, "there's no rest for the wicked." Steve moved to support her, but she swatted him away. "I can do it myself," She snapped, but reeled herself back in and added, "Thank you, though, Captain."
"Just call me Steve," He said.
Lusine gave him a slight nod of her head, barely noticeable, as she tested her weight on the injured leg. "Steve it is."
"Okay, so now you guys are done with... with whatever that was, can you tell me what happened?" Casia interjected, the ring of blue around her eye stark against the deep brown of her eyes, an open expanse of desert with no end in sight.
"Loki made his move," Steve said, "and now we have no idea where Doctor Banner or Thor are. Director Fury wants to debrief."
"Thor is gone?" Casia questioned, standing tall, but obviously leaning against the bed for support.
"He's an Asgardian," Lusine responded, watching the woman carefully as her face grew visibly concerned. "He's harder to kill than you Midgardians. One punch in the wrong place and you're out for the count."
Casia nodded her head and sank back down onto the bed. "You guys go ahead and get to the debrief. I'm not quite recovered yet."
"Take all the time you need, Agent Radcliffe," Steve told her, offering her a gentle smile as Lusine rolled her eyes at his polite nature. "Are you coming, Lusine?"
"Yes," Lusine replied, pushing her hair behind her ears, "though I may be a little slower than I was before after Cathal ruined my leg." She grimaced as she took a few steps forwards, pain shooting up her calf to her thigh to her hip. Her hand flew out and gripped Steve's bulky arm, a hiss escaping her lips. "I suppose I dealt her a worse hand."
"Maybe you should stay here and rest," Steve tried, but Lusine shook her head, forcing herself to walk beside him even as he persisted she stayed.
"No," She defied, "I want to be there to help. Loki is not evil, but the choices he makes are devilish and he isn't... I want to help defend as many innocents from the chaos as possible. Now," she gripped him tighter, drawing in a breath that send an ache through her shoulders, "help me walk."
-
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"Steve," Lusine said quietly as they exited the medical ward, "that woman is not of this world."
"Yes, she's a lovely looking lady, I suppose," He responded, face slipping into a gentle frown at this sudden conversational topic.
"No," Lusine rolled her eyes, "I mean she isn't Midgardian. Not fully. Of that I am sure. I'd bet my father's life on it." As they rounded the corner, she slipped her hand from his arm and took her next steps alone, already feeling better for getting out of that drab room filled with the miserable and the dying, wanting to walk even when it hurt and when she stumbled and when she had to stop for a moment to hold onto the wall, to breathe through the pain.
"What else could she be?" Against all odds, Steve's frown deepened.
Lusine grinned, splaying her fingers against the wall before shoving herself off and forward. "Asgardian, like me, of course. Only partly, I'm sure, otherwise her power would have manifested and very likely consumed her by now."
"I thought you weren't Asgardian... How do you know what she is?" Steve remained close by, letting her struggle as her pride pulled thin. Every inch of her screamed for support, but the warrior within told her to grit her teeth and get on with it. It could have been worse. It could always be worse.
"We who live on the Wolf Moon are offshoots of Asgardians," Lusine said, forcing the power in her blood to surge to her leg to knit her back together. It had clearly struggled after she'd expended herself fighting off Cathal and now she was making up the distance as she stumbled beside a super soldier. "The power that radiates off her is difficult to pinpoint, but it is extremely possible that she has Asgardian blood in her. Perhaps her mother had a liking for Midgardian men."
"Thor seemed to take quite a liking to her," Steve commented, ignoring the sweat beading on her forehead as she worked her power into the healing. She should not have left her bed.
"Thor has a big heart. There is plenty of room for her there," She replied, starting to feel the burn of the healing dying away, life flooding back to her cheeks and her eyes as she lowered her hand to her side. "He has always been good to me."
As they entered the room, Tony and Director Fury were already waiting for them.
"You took your time," Tony noted, glancing between her and Steve.
"I had a sword through my calf. Excuse my manners, but sprinting over here wasn't exactly on the table," Lusine sneered as the last piece of healing snapped into place and her entire body relaxed. She drew back a chair and sat.
"You think you're a hero now, hm? Because you got hurt for once in your damn life? Newsflash! You had it coming," Tony snapped back, eyes flaring on her as if they had seen hell itself.
"Tony, leave it," Steve tried, but there was no stopping an arrow once it had left its archer, not until it hit its target, sharpened and dipped in violent poison.
"Had it coming?" Lusine repeated, laughing humorously at the man before her. "You walk a fine line disrespecting me, Stark. I could rip you in half with my bare hands and yet you dare to divulge what the universe owes me as if you know what the hell you're saying."
"You're ignorant to the bigger picture," Tony said, barely flinching as she snarled.
"You barely know who you're dealing with. Loki wouldn't have escaped if you did," Lusine growled out, fingers curling into the table.
"That's enough," Fury cut in. "If all you two are going to do is argue like children then I suggest you leave immediately."
Lusine held Tony's stare, jaw clenched, fingers itching to curl around his throat and tear with ragged claws. She pressed her palms into her thighs, concentrating on her breath as he stared her down. Oh gods how that thing inside of her took advantage of her weakened grasp on reality, taking her by the jaw and slamming her into the ground as it fought to the surface, using her bloody body as a stepping stone.
In absolute fear of the control slipping between her fingers, Lusine turned to Steve in desperation. A desperation that clung to the colour of her eyes as they flickered to deep, dark violet.
"Miss Volkov, do you need to step outside?" Director Fury asked, caution unhidden in his warning tone.
"Lusine, calm down," Steve said gently. She shook her head, opening her mouth to speak but no sound came out.
His face caved in with worry as he watched her spiralling, watched her being dragged down into the depths again, fingernails curling into the flesh of her legs.
"Lusine, breathe," He tried again, reaching out to her, his hands slipping over hers and holding tight as her eyes squeezed shut. "You need to concentrate."
She found his voice a beacon in the dark that swarmed her. Fought towards it with every inch of herself, sourcing power from depths she wasn't aware existed within herself. Not raw power, but will power. The want to be better. The want to be in control without effort.
When her eyes opened again, they were blue once more and swimming in silver.
"Are you okay?" He asked her, watching as her hands turned and squeezed his own, a silent signal of gratitude with a meaning that words could not even begin to express.
Lusine managed a nod, rising from the chair and lowing her gaze.
"Director Fury, if you'll excuse me, I believe I should leave you to it. I am not in the right mind to engage in battle talk. When you have decided your course of action, please inform me of it," She said quietly. "Thank you," She added when no one protested and turned away, dropping Steve's hands and exiting the room, tail between her legs.
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1864 words
18.5.18
a shorter chapter to break up the streak of long chapters a little bit