Lunareclipse

first steps back to 'normal'

The two were leaning onto the railing of the balcony,  gazing at the moon in the night sky. No words were needed for them to feel understood. Loki had his black hair pulled back into a messy bun. Uncharacteristically he wore a hoodie that was too big for him. The others thought it looked weird but Emma thought it showed that he was human too.

"They lose their consistency over time..." He looked at the teen to his surprise she was wearing a loose shirt. He himself had no problem with the cold but even the thought of standing here in just a shirt sent a cold shiver down his spine. "Aren't you cold? The breeze is quite chilly tonight..."

The teen simply shrugged her shoulders instead of answering. Loki moved to grab one of the blankets from a chair but Emma stopped him. "It's fine. I'm not cold…" Her eyes were still locked onto the bright moon.

"They kept you inside…"

It wasn't a question, still Emma slowly nodded. Everyone on the team of heroes had always believed her, whenever she had smiled through the pain of fresh wounds and aching bruises. Since she was a hero and had to keep up her secret identity, she had become a quite skilled liar. Sure it wasn't a good trait entirely, but came in quite handy in some situations. The only ones that had ever been able to look through it were her parents, Peter and Loki. The latter one would always recognise her behaviour, it was very similar to his own.

"And those scars are new too…"

Her head fell down, causing her hair to cover her face. She hadn't bothered to cut it this summer. Now it nearly covered her whole back.

"You know, sometimes it's really annoying that you're observant like this…" Usually she would have joked around, calling him a stalker or something, but the god had already recognised the sad and broken tone behind her usual sincere and cheerful voice. Suddenly Emma turned away from the sight of the moon. You could feel that she wanted to say something. Taking in a deep breath she turned around to Loki.

"Is everyone here…?"

He looked a bit confused at the girl, not understanding why worry wavered in her voice. "Only Barton and Lang not. Their children need to go to school. But they come as often as they can…" 

Of course everyone would come. What did she expect?

At first she had been somewhat relieved to meet the god of mischief but while looking at the moon hanging in the night sky, it had occurred to her. If Loki was here, Thor would be, too. Just like a bunch of other heroes. Of course it was touching to know they cared for her. But that also meant she had made them worry. Maybe even scared. And furthermore they had probably overworked themselves because of her. If only she had been faster… Nothing of this would have happened. "'m sorry…"

She walked back into the kitchen, leaving Loki alone on the balcony. Without a specific destination she walked down the stairs. Usually she had no problem racing them up. Now she was leaning onto her knees, trying to catch her breath after jogging down two floors. Still a bit out of breath, she opened the door in front of her. Slowly she made her way down the hallway. It was dark but she didn't bother to turn on the lights.

Turning right and left here and there she walked along the glasswalls of the compound aimlessly. She wasn't even wearing shoes but the cold didn't bother her. After a while she found herself stepping onto a mat. She sat down in the middle of the room, facing the wall of windows. She simply sat there, staring at the moon, trying to sort her thoughts. After a small cloud hid the moon away, Emma laid down.

Staring at the dark ceiling she tried to figure out what the stone had done to her about a week ago. Closing her eyes, she tried to visualize what had happened in the forest. She tried to remember what she had felt and the feeling of the air around her changing temperature. Soon her thoughts got foggy, slowly losing focus. She drifted off into a light slumber, this time free of memories playing in a loop.