Chapter Text
The hospital staff was running around me in a frenzy. The monitors hooked up to Loki were beeping wildly, and nothing they did could stop them. Thor and I were thrown out of the room as the rest of the Avengers came running to meet us. Loki’s room was so packed I couldn’t see him anymore except when his body would arch off the bed in a seizure. They couldn’t help him.
“What’s going on?” Steve asked, out of breath.
Thor was right by the glass doors in case he needed to get in. He was also eavesdropping. “They’re saying the knives were poisoned,” he mumbled. His voice was breaking, and I could bet that if he turned around to us, we would see tears. “They injected deadly cells into his body, and they’re multiplying faster than we can kill them. There’s no hope.”
Thor crumbled to the ground, holding his head in his hands. I ran over to him and held him in my arms. His whole body was shaking, and I could hear thunder rumbling outside. “Shh,” I whispered to Thor, hugging him.
One of the main doctors who had been treating Loki was Dr. Cullen. She looked at us, and taking a deep breath, said, “The poisonous cells are taking over his body. There’s no way we can kill them. Their magic is just too powerful, and we’re only just starting to learn about Asgardian anatomy.”
They couldn’t save him here. Even with all their knowledge, we were still just humans. This was a new level, this was magic.
An idea suddenly popped into my head. “Tony,” I yelled. His head whirled to look at me. “I can kill them. I can kill the cells!”
Tony narrowed his eyes. “Absolutely not,” he hissed. “We just started training on that, you could do more damage than help!”
“He’s dying!” I screamed, tears rolling down my cheeks. “What more harm could I do? I can save him, Tony. Maybe you think I was meant for only death and destruction, but I’m not. I can do more.” At the end, my fists were balled up, and I was standing straight, not breaking eye contact. I would not stand down.
Tony was shocked at what I had said. “I don’t think that at all….”
“Then, prove it. Let me try.”
Everyone was silent. I looked to Thor for approval, for even though I believed I could help, there was a chance I would fail, and he would lose his brother forever. Thor knew of my powers, but I don’t think he understood the full extent. They only came in after the Battle of New York.
I was in my yard back at home with my family the next summer. We were at our pool, having another family get-together on a sunny day. My cousins and I had just finished playing volleyball, and while I was sitting on the ground putting my shoes back on, I stopped. I started feeling the grass, curious as to how green and healthy it looked.
Suddenly, the grass turned black and brittle. It was dying. The whole yard started to die. All the plants and leaves were disintegrating before my very eyes, and the source was me! The old oak tree behind our house collapsed, it leaves dried up and its branches broken.
I pulled my hand from the grass, holding it with my other. My family came to see what happened only to see that I was the cause.
And that was the start of it. My powers were to kill. My parents were so afraid of me that they sent me here, practically begged Tony to let me in. He felt so bad for me that he allowed it, and then we became a family. Even though I was cursed.
But now, maybe I could turn it into a gift. Maybe I could help more than hurt.
Thor nodded his head at me. I ran inside and bumped past the hospital personnel. “Stay back!” I warned them. Tony hurried them out of the room.
“You sure about this?” he asked.
“More than anything.”
I pulled down Loki’s blanket to show his torso, especially his wound marks. The big gash on his side looked infected as hell. I slowly and gently put my hand over the wound, feeling Loki twitch a little.
My mark started to sizzle, but I ignored it. I had to save him, nothing else mattered. I focused on the wound, careful not to hurt the rest of his body. I felt a surge of power flow from my hands and into his wound. There was always a black mist that released from my hands when I used my powers, and this time was no different. The wound was soon covered in black.
I concentrated hard on what I needed to kill. I found the cells in his body that were poisoning him and destroyed them. My powers flew from cell to cell in rapid succession, killing off the lethal ones.
When I finally felt his body recover and the cells gone from his system, I brought my powers back in, releasing them from Loki. I felt them come back into me with a push, and I let go of Loki.
Dizziness encased me. I couldn’t hold myself upright, and there was nothing for me to grab onto. I could barely see, as my eyes wanted to shut so badly. What was happening to me? Did I overwork myself? I collapsed, but Tony caught me before I was hurt.
I woke up a few minutes later still in Tony’s arms. “What happened?” I stammered, feeling my forehead.
Tony chuckled. “Using your powers like that will take a lot out of you, kid.”
I smiled at him. Maybe we would be okay after all.
I looked around to see Thor by his brother’s side, gripping his hand and looking over him. “He’s healing!” he shouted to us.
Tony pulled me up, and we went over. Thor was right. Loki’s wounds were closing up by themselves. His heart-rate had slowed down considerably, and there had been no more seizures.
My heart soared. He was coming back to me. Well… he was coming back… not specifically for me. But for whatever reason, I found myself needing him to come back. I needed him.
Maybe I loved him.
I mentally slapped myself for that one. How stupid could I be? I couldn’t love a god who was perfect in every feature and had superior intellect. I was only a mortal.
But that couldn’t stop the feelings. His voice calmed my rushing waters. His smile made my heart leap. His eyes drowned me. I never had a chance.
Loki’s eyes blinked open. He turned to Thor, noticing he was grabbing his hand. “What are you doing?” His voice was weak, but that didn’t stop him from being a little shit.
Thor didn’t drop his hand, though, and hugged his brother tightly. Loki growled at his brother to stop, but Thor was laughing and shaking his head.
I giggled at the sight, happy to see Thor so happy again and Loki so alive again.
Loki noticed me. “Hello little one,” he whispered.
I grinned at him and went in for a hug, too. I mouthed “I’m sorry” to him before which made him smirk.
“How did you manage to bring me back?” Loki asked in wonder.
Thor grinned widely. “That would be our lovely hero, Dana.” He hugged me tightly and kissed me on the cheek. “She saved you.”
Loki turned to me with curious eyes. He had questions. Lots of them. But I wasn’t sure I would know how to answer them just yet.
“And pray tell, how exactly did you do that sweetling?”