You already had an illusion in place over the two of you when you appeared back in the same spot you had vanished from earlier that afternoon. You weren't surprised that there were people here with cameras hoping to catch a glimpse of Thor and Loki. Your illusion was of you and Loki looking exactly as you had when you left in the portal. The illusions waved and posed for pictures while you teleported Loki back into the compound. The illusion would vanish in a minute.
You and Loki appeared in the livingroom and you cursed when you weren't alone. The team was still there. "Um..." you greeted them, unsure. They were bound to notice that Loki was wrapped in chains.
"What'd he do?" Tony demanded staring at the captive Loki.
"What happened in Asgard?" Cap asked at the same time.
You pushed Loki down onto his spot on the couch. He glared and grumbled something behind the tape. "In a minute," you replied, assuming he was demanding to be freed. You turned your attention to Cap. "Odin confirmed Loki's story. My real name is Sigyn Freyadotir and I am full-Asgardian," you had yet to come to terms with that for yourself.
"What did he do?" Tony demanded again, more loudly.
You glanced over at Loki who glared back at you.
"Y/N, why are you bleeding?" Cap asked. Your wound was dripping through the bandage onto the floor.
"It's nothing," you brushed off Cap's concern. He gave you a look. You knew that look. It was his 'team mom' look. "I'll take care of it in a little bit," you told him, trying to sound reassuring. You don't know if Cap actually forgot that you couldn't heal yourself, or was just trusting you to take care of things, but he nodded, accepting your words. Loki at least had the grace to look ashamed.
"Stop answering Steve's questions and ignoring mine!" Tony shouted like a petulant child. "WHAT DID HE DO?"
You sighed, not wanting to actually explain Loki's behavior to them. You were sure he'd get over it now that he was home. "He became in need of cognitive re-calibration," you finally answered. Neither Cap nor Tony were satisfied with that answer. You didn't care. You went to the dining room, collected two bowls of the Russian stew Nat had made, somehow balanced them in one hand and went back to Loki. You were surprised Cap hadn't tried to free Loki while you were gone. You touched Loki's shoulder and teleported the two of you up to his bedroom. "Sorry, I should've brought you straight up here. I thought you'd like something to eat, though," you told him sheepishly. He was sitting on his bed. You set the stew on his desk and sat in his desk chair, facing him. With a flick of your hand and a bit of power all of his bonds were gone.
You both sat in silence for a minute. You stared at the floor, trying to figure out how to start this conversation. It needed to happen. You passed him the bowl of stew to postpone starting it for a minute longer. He looked up surprised when you did.
"Thank you," he murmured. Another minute passed. "Are you going to unbind my magic?" he asked softly while he ate his stew.
"Depends, are you going to teleport out of here before we have this conversation?" you replied just as softly. "And don't try to lie to me, Trickster," you told him firmly. You were too exhausted to put up with that nonsense.
"I will not," he replied. You weighed his words, but they were the truth. You knew him well enough to spot a line. You pulled out your phone and typed in the command.
"Verbal authorization is required, Miss," Jarvis announced.
"Authorized," you replied. There was a ding in reply from the piece of tech on Loki's wrist. You took a bite of stew, but set it aside. You couldn't eat right now. There was too much going on, too many emotions, and too much you hadn't been able to process yet.
"I know you're pissed off at Odin and Frigga. I can't say I'm happy with them either for keeping this from both of us. They had the power to rescue me from jumping foster homes my entire life and they didn't. They had the power to let me know I wasn't human and they didn't do that either. They had the power to let you know at the very least that you didn't have to mourn and you would see me again. I know how you feel being lied to your entire life," you started. You knew how he'd felt after finding out he was really a Jotun. He'd told you all about it one night. You knew the feeling intimately and first hand now. "But I had nothing to do with it. I didn't know I wasn't at all human until today. I didn't know I wasn't mostly human until a few months ago. You know lies when you hear them. You know I had nothing to do with any of this."
"I know. I'm sorry. I should not have taken out my rage at my family on you," he finally said after a long minute. Another minute passed before he found the words he was looking for. "They manipulated us into this courtship without either of our knowledge,"
"I don't know how visions of the future work, but I know how much Frigga loves you. She wouldn't have done anything that she thought would hurt you,"
"We're betrothed!" he countered, not seeming to understand how you weren't grasping that concept and how very wrong this was.
"In Asgard," you countered. "We're not in Asgard. We don't have to follow their rules, or the choices they made on our behalf. Hell, I don't even know what their rules are, nor do I care," you added quickly before he could open his mouth and explain. It wasn't important right now. "We have choices, Loki. All of the choices are ours to make. If you want to continue our courtship I will gladly join you in that journey. If you want me to walk out of this room and never see you again, I will accept your decision. You don't have to do what Odin tells you anymore," you told him. You saw him reel at that realization. You still had a feeling that you knew what his decision would be, just to prove to himself, at least for a little while, that he really didn't have to do what Odin wanted.
So you stood to give him more time to hopefully come to a better decision. "I need to go downstairs and get this looked at," you indicated your arm. "Eat, you can have my bowl too. We can talk more later," you told him softly, gently. You touched his shoulder reassuringly, but didn't try to kiss him. He was too upset. Instead, you slipped out of his room. You closed the door behind you, only knowing that he'd still be here because he couldn't teleport out of the tower with his powers limited, which is all the further you had authorization to unbind his powers.
You leaned against the wall next to his room, trying to digest the last couple of days. You slid to the floor, your knees to your chest, dissolving into tears. Your entire life and existence had crumbled around you and it was too much, too fast. You had learned to cry silently through years in the foster system, and didn't think you'd be disturbed. You and Loki were usually the only inhabitants of this floor, and you were sure Loki couldn't hear you.
So you were surprised when a figure appeared in front of you. You hadn't noticed anyone in the hall. You looked up, expecting to see Loki. You weren't terribly surprised to see Thor instead. Of course he would come to see what had happened. "He hurt you?" Thor demanded, but his voice was gentle, not his usual boom.
"Not on purpose," you replied, showing him your arm, which you'd neglected to do anything with while you were having your existential crisis. Thor looked between you and the door to Loki's room for a moment, before he made a decision.
He held his hand down to you. "Come, little sister. Let us get that arm looked at,"
You gestured to the door. "You can go help him. He's still feeling off from everything that happened..." You weren't actually sure Thor would help with that. Maybe fighting it out with an adversary who would fight back would actually help.
"You are in more immediate need," he replied and somehow hauled you to your feet, even though you didn't give him your hand. You realized you had lost too much blood when you leaned against him to keep your balance.
"He's your brother," you protested as Thor steered you down the hall to the elevator.
"And my presence will just upset him. You have already gentled him from when you left Asgard. Mother told me," he added before you could ask. He kept an arm around you and steered you down to medical.
When you got off the elevator you took exactly one step forward before a splitting pain erupted in your brain. You clutched your head shrieking in pain as your knees buckled. The pain was the only warning before visions of the future began flashing in your mind. Thor had caught you and lowered you to the ground gently as vision after vision of the future flashed before your eyes. Different possibilities for what was going to happen for different choices that could be made.
"What did you see?" Thor asked gently, kneeling in front of you when you had finally stopped screaming.
"The future," you said softly.
"You can see the future now?" Tony demanded incredulously.
"I don't recommend it," you groaned, trying to piece the images you had seen in a useful combination. "I can't-"
"It is alright. Mother said the visions are difficult to process. Let me help you to the healing room," Thor said softly. You managed to nod. He swept you effortlessly into his arms. He was even stronger than Loki, so you didn't protest.
"What the hell happened?" Nat demanded. You told them an abbreviated version of events while Thor carried you to the infirmary. Nat stitched your arm up. She was a proficient combat medic. She tutted over how deep the wound was, but said it would heal without issues and wrapped a clean bandage over the stitches.
While she was working, you processed the images you had seen and finally figured out what path they were trying to convince you to take.
"Thank you both," you told them as you hopped down from the infirmary bed. "I need to get back upstairs." Thor nodded, understanding that you wanted to get back to Loki before he did something stupid. Loki was chaotic and destructive when he was upset.
"Do you want me to come with you?" he asked. You shook your head.
"Let me put on the heavy gloves and gentle him some more," you replied with a smile you didn't feel.
"Your eyes are bloodshot," Nat commented, concern in her voice.
"It is common after a vision," Thor told her, which also reassured you. You waved to them, letting Thor explain it and slipped back to the elevator before the others could notice you and try to waylay you.
You slipped back into Loki's room. He hadn't seemed to have moved, but both bowls of stew were empty. He looked up, surprised that you were back. He steeled himself to say something, but before he could, you held up a hand to stop him. "Give me your arm," you told him, holding your hand out.
"Your eyes- what did you see?" he asked as he stood to face you, confused and concerned. Of course he'd notice your bloodshot eyes and would know they meant you'd had a vision. You huffed and took his arm when he didn't give it to you, the one that had Stark's tech on his wrist. You summoned the key you had stolen from Tony and unlocked it, removing the stupid thing from his arm. "Witchling, what are you doing?" he demanded, shocked when you removed the last limit from him. You gave him a small smile when he slipped back to pet names for you. You'd be ok. You'd get over this hurdle and be ok.
"I've seen the outcome of every single possible choice that can be made by us tonight," you finally told him. "So I'm doing the right thing. I'm giving you the freedom to make your own choices. That is my decision this evening," you added softly. It was the only decision you could make. "I love you, Loki. You've been my best friend since we met and I've loved you every moment of our courtship, but I'm not going to force you to stay."
You had seen a thousand futures. You knew which one he would choose. Still, you gave him the freedom to choose it.
"I love you too, witchling," he finally said, too softly, too carefully. He hesitated a long moment longer, but the decision had already been made. "But I need time. I need space to figure all of this out..."
You nodded. "I know. Try not to take too long, ok?" you asked him softly fighting back the tears that came unbidden to your eyes.
He pulled you into his arms and kissed you thoroughly and deeply. You melted into the kiss, even though it was a kiss goodbye. For now. "I promise," he replied gently. "Be well while I am away," he bid you softly.
"I will," you promised him.
Moments later he was gone in a flash of green light.
If it was the right decision, why did you feel like bawling your eyes out into a bowl of ice cream?