A Tale of Mischief and Mutants part 2

Revelation

—-Loki—-

Upon hearing the reasoning behind my brother's anger my own anger dissipated. He's just as afraid of loosing me as Sam is. I'll be even more careful from now on. I recognize it would break my brother if anything happened to me after already loosing so much. As much as I enjoy tormenting and insulting him sometimes, I feel the same.

Oddly for my cowardly and self preserving nature I've already decided that if in battle it came down to a decision between saving myself or saving my brother... I'd make sure he made it out alive. I know he'd fall into a downward spiral from that but eventually he'd recover, as would Sam... if I lost my brother or Sam... I honestly don't know if I would. I don't think I'm strong enough but I know they both are.

Asgard needs their king, Earth needs its hero, and perhaps the action or willingness to commit to the action of self sacrifice could be just enough for me to be worthy of joining my mother and father in Valhalla. Of course Thor doesn't have a clue that I've come to this revelation but it's been long standing.

It came to me on the ship as we were heading to Midgard I formed the revelation after a conversation we had. He said that maybe I wasn't that bad after all and thanked me for my help on the bridge. Because of that conversation and his acceptance of me despite everything I realized that throughout all I'd done and all we faced he never had actually given up on me.

He may have said as much but he never truly meant it he'd always hoped I'd come back around. This is also a huge part of what lead me to come clean about what actually happened to me after my fall from the bridge and during New York. I think of all this as I finish explaining my ideas about my alibi. 

"That's smart we'll go with the last one."

I nod.

"I'll tell Sam, Mary, and Peter so we're all on the same page in the event that we're questioned."

Thor nods I smile slightly at my brother I know he's not the happiest with me at the moment but I'm touched by the sentiment as to why.

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It's now been a little less than a month since the wedding and it's since been deemed safe for Mary to return to New York. Sam and I are back on the active duty roster. Though I dread going on my first mission since Tony's passed as I'll surely be struck by sadness at some point in the mission, I'm eager to get back to fighting alongside the team. I'll never admit to it but I've missed them. We haven't been called upon for any missions yet seeing as we were just put back on duty.

Suffice to say Sam has gotten exponentially better over the past month on every front. I'm extremely proud of her progress. She walks the streets of Tønsberg without my accompaniment and without fear, she has gotten back into her regular training routine, and we are regularly intimate. I've been doing better too I find myself being more open about my true emotions with Thor, Heimdall, Sif, and Valkyrie.

We never did end up needing that alibi. The worst thing that came of this was Fury not so subtly warning me saying two peculiar incidents are something he and the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D can ignore but three's a pattern and would require an investigation. This is fine, I don't plan on doing this again unless Sam's captors rear their heads again.

Though since Sam is doing better now I'll follow her lead with how to proceed with dealing with them. I never heard anything regarding the boy we rescued and I somewhat regret not getting his name. If I had his name I could ask Ned to search S.H.I.E.L.D's database for information on the child but since I have nothing to go off of besides his appearance it's impossible to know what happened to him.

This is a little troubling but until I hear differently I'll assume he made it home. Right now I'm sitting in the afternoon sun reading, I'm familiarly interrupted by Sam shouting from across the garden.

"Loooo'?!"

I smile looking up from my book and tease her by mimicking her.

"Whaaat?"

"We got to go, it's Cap's birthday remember? He's 106 years young."

"Right."

I sigh and put my book away only partially annoyed by having to stop. It will be nice to see the others again.