Take Your Tiny Hands Into Mine

3

Loki wanted her to cover him up, but she already threw it 10 feet away from him.

Eyes as wide as corks, she understood and covered the young girl's eyes. "Stay here..." she told her.

If Loki had to be sure with himself, there was a reason why he always kept his body hidden or covered with illusions.

The scars.

The burns.

The branding.

The deep welt marks.

The mess of broken blood vessels .

It was simply too much.

"Girl, fix the wrist and I'll..."

The little adolescent put her hands on the injury, it began to glow white and Loki only covered a small flinch when it successfully cracked back into place.

She gets up from her spot on the floor, for the Valkyrie to bandage it up and the girl to move toward his neck.

"He has already attempted to heal it," she informed her.

Valkyrie glanced up.

"Can you do anything?"

She girl looked to the side, as if she was thinking hard.

"Yes, of course."

She got to work fixing his windpipe, vocal chords and everything.

It was tiring her, but she had more practice than she'd let on telling everyone around here.

She finished up his bruised and broken ribs, trying to ignore the scary marks left on his body.

She'd always thought Prince Loki had flawless, milky white skin. Everyone was jealous. But she never knew he was hiding so much. Maybe it was recent, most of the scars were still pink and raw. The white ones were on his wrist and the inside of his arm.

Korg retrieved two blankets and gave one to Valkyrie who spread it out on the floor and transfered Loki on top of it. Korg dropped he other blanket on Loki's almost bare body. He was missing a top, half a pant leg and it looked like he was on the edge of unconsciousness.

"Can I–" Loki wheezed.

"Shirt? You'll be fine."

He began to sit up.

"Oh I don't think so. Bro, you've got to rest."

Loki tried to swat the rock creature away but Korg pressed him back down.

"Hey!"

Loki disappeared in a flurry of green sparkles and appeared standing next to the small control room of the pod.

"We need to do something immediately... to help."

Loki's traditional green armor that he wore on Midgard appeared over him. He was back to his normal colors. But he almost fell over onto his knees when the heavy weight settled on his shoulders.

Valkyrie raised her eyebrows, completely unbothered.

"We can go and attempt to find the stones so I can destroy them, but we've wasted much time. Thanos might already have them in his hold. Better we go to Midgard."

Valkyrie pursed her lips and leaned back into her chair.

"Why? What do you mean? What stones? And what's so important that we've got to move right now?"

"Thor could be dying."

She inhaled sharply.

"Okay? And?"

"And!" He exclaimed.

"And, we need to make sure the Asgardian population does not get cut in half, once more! Do you know what Thanos does?"

She gave him an annoyed look, "Sort of. But this is not important..."

Frustrated, Loki began to pace anxiously.

"Let's go?"

"Okay."

How about no."

Loki lunged forward to maybe smack some sense into her but Korg pulled him away a few feet back.

"Don't make her angry," he warned.

"Oh, that's my specialty."

Aftering pressing some buttons, Valkyrie stood up and pushed her way through the doorway of the pit, where Loki had planted himself a second time.

"I'm getting a drink. You need one too"

"Correction, only you need one."

"Would've been useful for your injuries."

"I survived just fine, thank you very much, Valkyrie."

"It's Brunhilde, and..." she just about might of been laughing at him when she scoffed. "You're turning blue."

Valkyrie poured herself a glass of strange, dark liquid, and took the large bottle in one hand while Loki panicked and examined his hands.

He desperately looked around, hoping no one saw.

Then his Aesir appearance returned.

But it flickered back to blue, as if it could not pick which one it wanted to be.

He soon realizes that he's shaking—his hands are shaking–

Cream.

Blue.

Cream.

Blue.

Cream.

Blue–

Something is falling away at the tips of his fingers.

"Valkyrie," Loki says, "Valkyrie, something's not right."

His voice sounds odd, he might be swaying, he's really not sure anymore. And his vision becomes blurry. What–

"I'm telling you, it's Brunhilde, not Valkyrie." She says, but it's too rushed.

Loki laughs again, but it sounds wrong and foreign.

He has never sounded this joyous.

"I must be dying again."

"I–" He shudders.

He's afraid again.

He feels the emotion enveloping him like a suffocating hug.

"No, Loki." Valkyrie says, and he can now see clearly that her eyes are wide and that she's reaching for him.

Loki watches her move like time has slowed down. He sees her hand pass through his chest. Oh–

–and finally, the light in Loki's eyes dies out, and he crumbles into fine ash, dissipating like smoke in the wind.

.
.
.

May 19, 2021