(2)The Avengers: The Goddess of the Sea

9

I threw Loki's hand off of my face to find we were no longer in the kitchen. We were on the beach. Loki looked absolutely livid. As for me, I was in agony. I was out of the water, laying on the beach, but my tail refused to change, leaving it to dry in the cool night air which left me in immense pain.

I forcefully threw myself towards the sea, tiny pebbles digging into all of my exposed flesh. But I still drug myself agonizing inch by agonizing inch towards the water until finally my tail was once again immersed in the cool sea water.

But the relief was short lived as Loki grabbed me by the throat and pulled me out of the water again. At least this time my tail had time to turn into feet, though my legs still burned considerably.

"The only reason you were able to break out of that was because I lost focus upon feeling another mind in yours. What is going on, Rán?"

I grasped at his hands, trying in vain to rip them from my neck. My breaths were coming out as wheezes now, yet I still couldn't free myself of his grasp. He was fully prepared to kill me.

"None of this is real, is it?" Something finally dawned on his face. Me, on the other hand, I had no idea what he was talking about.

Suddenly something came in from the left and knocked Loki to the ground. His hand having left my throat, I landed hard on the ground, the wind knocked out of my already breathless lungs. I sat there, heaving large lungfuls of air into my body until my vision finally cleared and the worst part of my shaking was over.

When I looked back to see what in the world had happened, Thor stood before me, holding Loki by his throat and aggressively shaking him.

"What have you done?!" He thundered; his hammer was in his hand and I was fully expecting him to use it.

Then he actually prepared to. He threw Loki to the ground where, like me, he struggled to catch his breath. Thor raised his hammer in both hands over his head. Lightning slashed the night sky in two, lighting everything with a sick glow. Loki met my eyes and even though he had put me through hell, something in me cracked.

I threw myself in front of Loki and caught Thor's hammer on the swing down. My arms shook with the effort of trying to keep the weapon from crushing my rib cage and my heart. The color drained from Thor's face and his stony expression melted away to be replaced with the look of fear.

"How did you...?"

I didn't have time to question his confusion. Turning around, Loki looked up at me with admiration and confusion in his face.

"You saved me," he whispered, his voice strained.

"You have done the worst thing to me," I said, my voice a lot stronger than I thought it would be. "but unlike you, I have a heart and couldn't stand to watch you be crushed in front of me. But so help me, god of mischief, if you ever show your face around me again, your thousands of years of life will be vanquished at my hand."

Never in my life did I ever think I could look or sound menacing. But with Thor's hammer held in my hand from the wrong side (which I'm not supposed to be able to wield, making me realize the source of Thor's utter bewilderment), the lightning crackling behind me and my terrifying promise, Loki's face was pale and he looked terrified.

Thor's face was smug as he crossed his arms. "You heard the lady. Scram, brother."

Loki made a show of standing and wiping the sand and pebbles from his clothes. "You have not seen the last of me."

With that warning, he shimmered and disappeared. There was a beat of time where the lightning fizzled out and all was silent. The sea lapped at my feet, making my scales fade in and out and I could distantly feel the hammer getting heavier and heavier in my hand as the adrenaline drained from my system.

Then everything crushed me. I dropped Thor's hammer as I myself fell to the ground like a stone. Exhaustion, pain, fear, anger: everything I should've been feeling during my two day escapade through Loki's mind tricks.

Except for it wasn't actually two days. It was barely an hour? Twenty minutes? I wasn't for sure, but I knew it was the same day. The feel of the pebbles against my skin was reassuring. But I still couldn't help the little tendrils of doubt that clouded my mind.

How did I know if this was real? How do I know this wasn't a part of Loki's mind magic? I was spiraling and quite frankly losing it, until Thor put his hand on my shoulder. His touch made me realize this was real. He was real. I'm the goddess of the sea, I am alive and this is real.

"My Lady," Thor whispered.

I put my hand over his, feeling the warmth tingle in my frozen fingers. He laced our fingers together, making me sigh with comfort.

"This is real, isn't it?" I whispered back.

Instead of answering, Thor helped me up and pulled me into a tight embrace. He played with my hair as sobs wracked my body. By the time I quit crying, we were sitting on the ground and the sky was lightening. I sat in Thor's lap, his arms were around me making me feel safer than I had in a while. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon when Thor stirred.

"I would like to invite you to stay in the castle with Odin and I."

I looked up at Thor and my heart absolutely melted. He was my only tie to the mortal world, the Avengers, everything I'd lost. And here he was, still being a sort of protector to me. Like...an older sibling. He was family.

So all I could do was smile and nod. But I think that was enough for Thor.