Loki's Pain

Chapter Thirty-Seven- What Can it Mean?

Catherine would have sworn that his eyes had looked normal the week before, a beautiful pale violet hue, but normal. Looking more closely she noted several other minor physical changes that she had either missed, or which hadn't been there before. He now had sharp claws on his hands. The claws on his feet seemed a bit longer as well, and he had developed short, white fur from his toes up under his pant legs. Not to mention the fact that the previously small points on the tips of his ears now seemed more pronounced.

"Have you spoken to Bruce about it?" She asked him, and he let out a heavy breath before he nodded. "He said that everything was normal. That all my tests showed no changes and that it must just be in my head...."

"How long ago was that?" She asked him curiously.

"A week...week and a half, maybe?" He answered her, clearly not entirely sure.

"We need to take you back to see him, today. You are definitely changing. It is not just in your head." She confirmed for him, and he let out a breath that was almost half-sob before regaining control.

"Really!?" He asked, looking at her with desperate hope in his eyes.

"I can see them too. You are not going crazy. I promise." She said gently, understanding his fear, and he started to cry quietly. Silent tears slid down his face.

"But what if I am anyway?" He asked seriously, still crying, his eyes growing haunted, "What if the changes...change me?"

"You feel different?" She asked softly.

"Yes." He replied, his voice barely above a whisper, "I... I dream of a forest with golden leaves. In the forest I am not human... I don't know what I am, but I'm running on all fours. I chase a deer with silver horns...."

"Do you catch the deer?" Cat asked him after a few moments, when he failed to continue and got lost in thought. He jerked in his seat as if he had woken from a dream. "Do you catch the deer, Ash?" She asked again when he seemed to have become confused.

"Yes... I catch it. I rip its throat out and then eat it... I can even still taste it's blood on my tongue..." He had reached towards his mouth as he spoke, as if he might check to see if the blood was really there.

"Is it bad that... I enjoyed it? That I want to go back to sleep just so I can hunt even more?" Ash asked the last questions in a rush, refusing to look at her for fear of seeing disgust on her face or in her eyes.

"No, Ash." She replied, "It isn't bad. It might be concerning in other circumstances... But it seems to me that the changes you are undergoing have strengthened your more animalistic instincts. These may be finding a way of expressing themselves in your dreams. I will admit that we will need to keep an eye on it, and if it turns into increased aggression or other dangerous behaviors, you will need to let me know at once, okay? Otherwise, they are nothing to fear. Everyone has those instincts to some degree. They just tend to be buried a bit deeper, or masquerading as something else."

Ash nodded, relieved to know he wasn't crazy and that she didn't hate him for how he felt. "Was that the only issue you needed to discuss today?" She asked then, when he failed to continue. He nodded before looking up at her with a sharp smile. "Okay, then lets get you over to Bruce so we can find out what is really going on, shall we?" She said, walking over to the door and gesturing for him to precede her out.

Once they made it down to Bruce's lab, Cat knocked on the door and waved at him thru the glass. When he saw Ash standing there next to her he looked almost irritated, making Cat concerned even as he made his way to the door.

When he finally opened it he instantly started to go off about how he was done running tests just to calm Ash's fears. He had wasted enough of his precious time chasing ghosts that didn't exist. She just let him go until he ran out of steam, and she got more and more pissed off when she saw how Ash shrank back and curled in on himself in response.