Beautiful Chaos

{part one | chapter nine}

Lilith was terrified, to put it simply. Somehow, she managed to stumble to the couch. She had her knees hugged to her chest and her hands over her ears as the battle raged in the streets and sky of New York. She flinched every time something exploded or a building was crushed. Screams filled the air and Lilith wished for silence, for peace. But it did not come.

A tear slipped down her cheek. She was so tired of the fighting, of being scared. An explosion boomed close by, too close, and Lilith screamed. A roar echoed against the windows. Lilith pressed her palms harder against her ears as she began to sob. She was so, so, scared.

Something slammed onto the balcony and Lilith's eyes snapped open to see Thor, gripping his brother's jaw and forcing him to watch the destruction he had created. Loki just smiled at the carnage around him, like an artist who had just finished his life's work, his masterpiece.

"Look at this, Look around you! You think this madness will end with your rule?"

Loki ripped his face from Thor's grip, "It's too late now, It's too late to stop it." He looked towards Lilith and their eyes met for a moment - bloodshot, tear-filled, honey-tinted brown boring into clear, pained, forest green. His expression hardened and he turned away.

"No," Thor said, "We can stop it. Together." Thor looked so hopeful that his brother would help them end the chaos that raged around them. His hopes were crushed, when Loki drew a dagger and impaled the blonde man's torso. Thor fell to the ground below the tower. Lilith sobbed harder as he fell.

"Sentiment," Loki grimaced, "Ridiculous."

"Loki," Lilith croaked, "why are you doing this?"

"I am burdened with glorious purpose, little one, " and suddenly his eyes appeared less green and more of that awful electric blue she had come to hate, as he always seemed less himself when his eyes were blue. He continued, "A task you would not soon understand," He walked towards her slowly, and she cowered against the couch cushions.

"But why? I kn-know you can be good. I see it in you. You don't want this! So why are you doing it?" She hadn't realized she was shouting, but she didn't care.

"I have grown tired of your incessant questions. I am not a good man, Lilith. I will never be good. I am doing this, because I have to! You will never understand! I have to do this. It is my purpose. So stop asking questions, stop getting in the way, and stop trying to fix me!" His eyes flashed furiously between fearful green and malicious blue.

"Agh!" Lilith looked down to see the scepter digging into her abdomen, "Loki!" The god of mischief looked down at the pointed tip of his weapon turning red with the young girl's blood. He pushed harder, a thousand emotions, from scared to hurt to hatred to anger, crossing his features as she screamed.

"I cannot be fixed." He plunged the scepter into her stomach and she screamed louder. Her blood was seeping through her shirt and the sticky red liquid dripped onto the couch. Something rippled through Lilith's veins, the pain of being stabbed momentarily washed away. It felt electric. It felt like power. She screamed again as Loki withdrew the spear, bring all of the pain back tenfold.

Loki left, soaring away on another alien chariot. Lilith gripped her wound, trying to slow the flow of the blood.

"Jarv- agh! Jarvis!"

"Yes Miss Stark."

"Call my f- father," she groaned in pain.

"Miss Stark your father is very bus-"

"NOW!"

"Lilith? What's wrong? I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"Aahhh! Just get here! I'm hit, Loki stabbed me with the scepter, somethings very wrong!" She screamed as she explained, the pain increasing far beyond what it should've been. It felt like someone replaced her blood with gasoline and then set her on fire.

"I'm on my way, just sit tight, kiddo, I'll be there soon just hold on!" She screamed again as the pain surged again, a tsunami of searing, burning, awfulness engulfing her entirely. She couldn't see. She could only feel.

"Lilith, I'm here! I'm here, you're gonna be fine. Jarvis, read vitals. Quickly." Lilith cried so violently she thought she would snap in two. Everything hurt.

"Dad... It hurts... It hurts, everything hurts!"

"I know kid, I know." She shrieked again as he peeled the hem of her shirt away so he could asses the situation, "Shit. It doesn't look good Lee Lee."

"Just make it st-st-stop," she cried.

"Okay I gotta lift you, I got- yes Lilith I have to lift you," she was shaking her head, she couldn't move. She could barely breath without feeling like she was being burned to a crisp. Tony was terrified for her, "Okay ready? One... Two... Three!" He lifted her up, cradling her under her knees and her shoulders and sped to the nearest hospital.

"Get her help, NOW!" The doctors and nursed rushed towards them, laying Lilith on a gurney and rushing her to the Emergency Room.

Tony wished he could stay with her. He longed to comfort his daughter. But he had to help the others save New York. He had to. He flew off, back towards the action, the sounds of Lilith screaming haunting his brain as he rejoined the fight.

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"Lilith," Tony said quietly. Lilith turned her head towards the door of her hospital room and smiled sleepily.

"Hi Dad," she rasped. Her throat was raw from screaming in pain earlier.

"We brought you some shawarma."

"We?" Tony entered the room with a bag full of take out, followed by Nat, Thor, Bruce, Clint, Steve. Lilith smiled at her friends. Her family.

"Hello, Lady Stark," Thor waved happily from the foot of her bed as Nat embraced her carefully.

"I'm so sorry, Flower."

"It's not your fault, Nat." Natasha nodded at the reassurance, a silent thank you. Lilith looked around the room at the Avengers.

"Loki?" She hated that her first thought was of Loki. He had done this to her, put her through all of this pain, this suffering. Though in her heart she knew she had some form of care for the god. She knew his heart was full of pain, but it also harbored great amounts of love. And she still wanted to help him, despite his protests.

"Detained. Thor's taking him back to Asgard after this, you're safe now, Lee Lee. You don't have to worry anymore. We're all here to protect you. You never have to see him again"

But Lilith would see Loki again, very soon, in fact. For her dreams would be haunted by the green-clad god of mischief for what would soon feel like eternities.

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[end part one]