Perfect Storm I Loki

LOKI POV 2

*Takes place between Chapters 20-21*

No one had spoken up and uttered a word on the way back to Earth. The only sound in the spaceship was coming from the engines. Loki hadn't said a word since Layla turned to dust before his eyes.

Thanos was gone. The stones were gone. And with them, any chance to return Layla had been gone too.

Loki was replaying the scene in his mind over and over again. He was having trouble breathing, there was a heaviness over his body and his head was pounding.

He wasn't even fazed when Thanos had set his eyes on him and grinned. "I guess you really do survive anything Trickster, even the stones didn't make you disappear,"

But what he said at last, saying he had destroyed the stones, confirming that there was no way, there was no fucking way to undo what he had done... That was indescribable.

There was no way, words, or emotion to describe the way Loki was shattered when he learned that, when he learned that there was no way to bring her back.

He had told her, he had told his brother, he had told everyone that going against Thanos wasn't the sensible thing. He was just supposed to find another way to make her stay, make them all stay, away and safe. He was supposed to protect her. None of that mattered anymore.

The people beside him were supposed to be the protectors of this planet, they each had some kind of power on their own. The battle in Wakanda was perhaps the most ferocious fight Loki had seen, even rivaling some he had seen in Asgard, yet it wasn't enough. It didn't matter.

Because she was gone and there was no way to get her back.

The jet landed and they silently went inside the building. The building Loki had arrived at after Layla had texted him with Heimdall. Both of them were gone now. He only had his brother now. And his brother wasn't in a better mood than he was.

Loki couldn't help the spinning inside his mind. She was gone. She was gone, she was gone. She was gone.

Layla was gone.

And no matter what spell or charm or enchantments he knew, no matter how many beings he would fight, she was gone.

"Loki," Thor said quietly as he neared him. Loki could read the sadness and anger on his brother's face.

"Do you still have your phone? I think I lost mine in space. Anyway, I want to call Val. See what's the situation back at home,"

Loki wanted to laugh at that. Home? It wasn't home. Nowhere was home anymore.

But his brother had cared about it and although Loki's rotten heart had turned to steel the second she turned to dust, his brother was still here and Loki had cared about his brother. Thor was the only one left he cared about, only one of his family, only living person left who cared about Loki.

He smacked his lips and reached into his pocket for the telephone. He had never really cared about the device. The way she got every time hers rang was enough for him to hate the concept of it. It also didn't change the fact he was glued to it once he realized she was inside that jet.

"Loki," Steve Rogers called out to him just as he handed his brother the phone.

"What?" he snapped, his tone rough.

Captain Rogers straightened his posture with Loki's response. He was holding a bottle of water in his hands.

"He's trying to be nice," Natasha Romanoff muttered.

"Well, fuck nice. Being nice isn't going to solve this," Loki spat.

"Hey! Don't go all sentimental on us," Rhodey replied. "We all lost,"

Loki couldn't help but laugh at his face. They had lost? Had they had any idea what he had lost?

"Didn't know you cared this much about the fate of the world," Romanoff said in a mocking tone.

Loki turned to her. "I don't," he replied, his voice cold. There was only a couple of things he had cared about and he had just lost the biggest of them, permanently.

"Brother," Thor muttered beside him.

Loki furrowed his brows, turning to him. "No," he hissed and turned back to Rogers and Romanoff. "You said you had a plan! The Avengers. The mighty Avengers who protect the world! What happened? Huh? What happened to your plan? What happened to all of your glory? What have you managed to do in the face of true evil? You failed, no more than mere  ants under a foot!"

Banner sighed and walked out of the room. The blonde woman that showed up after everything had already happened, the blue alien and the raccoon walked out after him.

His brother, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and the guy Layla called Rhodey were the only people left in the room with him.

"Plans fail," Rogers muttered. "We know that, I know that,"

Loki scoffed. "Clearly, Captain Rogers. Where are the rest of your allies now?"

"That's enough," Romanoff said.

"It's okay," Rogers murmured and turned back to Loki, his face hardened. "Let him speak if he wants to,"

"Steve Rogers. The righteous man. The savior, the sacrificer. Where were you? Were were you for years when she needed you? Where were you when they put her in a cell, when they chained her?" Loki got up all in his face.

He turned his gaze to Romanoff. "Where were all of you?"

Natasha Romanoff had fooled him once, years ago, she had wagered against the God of Mischief and she had won. But even he knew the tears on her face were real this time.

"I hardly think you're the right person to comment on any of that," Rhodey said.

"And I hardly think chaining her was the right way to go," Loki shot back. He didn't need these people to tell him who he was or what he had done. He knew that all and he had lost the person who loved him in spite of all that.

Rogers tilted his head. "She's not the only person we lost. We lost half the galaxy. Friends, family,"

"She's the one that matters!" Loki exclaimed. She's the only one that matters.

"She was only trying to survive and you pulled her in to this. You kept pulling her in and in until she was caught and then you couldn't help but pull her into this too. Did you manage to protect her? Did you manage to protect any of your friends and family? What did you manage to do?"

Rogers looked down. "I know," he muttered. "I know. And I'm sorry,"

"Apologizing won't bring her back. It won't bring anything back,"

Loki turned his back to the people facing him. He had no idea what to do now. He could spit curses and throw the mistakes of the people around him to their faces all day long. He could keep lashing out.

But what good that would do? What good any of it, any of them would do? She was gone and the stones were gone and there was nothing to do.

She was gone.

"You really care about her," Romanoff said, almost in shock.

When Loki turned his head, he saw that they were alone in the room now. Everyone else had left. He turned to her.

"I thought it was one of your tricks, at what end, I'm not sure. But it's not. This isn't one of your sick games or some kind of manipulation or whatever. You truly do care about her," 

Loki clenched his jaw. He didn't need to prove anything to anyone he didn't care about, especially about Layla. He didn't need to come forward with his intentions when he would be ecstatic over shouting his feelings for her to the entire galaxy.

Her knowing was enough. Her knowing how she lit up his life, how her laugh made her feel, how at peace he felt when she was in his arms was enough.

But she was gone.

"No, Agent Romanoff, it isn't. It never was," he said slowly, "I love her,"