Fix You (Loki Romance)

Chapter 40

Ebony's POV

The battle had quieted and the rain had finally stopped pouring. I fell intermittently into sleep during the night. Each time I jolted from my sleep with a scream lodged in my throat and the thought that Kenna was no longer beside me.

She sat up through the night, keeping a shimmering field around us that she explained would make the pile of rubble by the palace wall appear empty. We crouched low under it well past the sound of the victory call.

I had woken to feel Loki leaving the bed and watched him follow Kenna from the room. Sleeping lightly, I woke again to the door opening. I had assumed it was Loki coming back to bed but moments later I was yanked up by a clawed hand and dragged to the floor.

The strange creatures that had once been Luk's friends spoke in even stranger guttural tones and hisses. They had dragged me as if my kicks and screams and struggles meant nothing. The battle had already begun and anyone brave enough to be out in it was there. Everyone else ran for safety. I was on my own until they dropped me at Thanos' feet.

The hellish grins and laughter that had invaded my dreams years ago had come to reality and all I could do was cry. I watched him raise his sword to Kenna and drag my husband away and I could do nothing but sit there and sob. All my training fell away, all my determination to fight him... Gone.

With one hand, Kenna strengthened the shield as it began to waver. With the other, she hiked up her shirt and silently healed four jagged tears in her skin. I moved to help her, a horrified noise sticking in my throat. She waved me away.

"S'okay." She whispered. The skin closed and she took my hand, pulling me in closer until she could reach my head. I started to protest but the invading calm stole my words and strength. "Shh." Kenna said. She smiled weakly. "You need sleep."

I woke to find the sky lightening with the coming of dawn. We could hear the cries of wounded and the search for them through the rubble.

"Mom?"

I sat up and wiped my eyes, taking deep breaths to steady myself again. I managed a weak smile for Kenna. "Hey. I'm okay. Come here." She crawled closer and laid down next to me, her head resting on my shoulder. I suspected that the calm she had given me was all she had the strength to feel, even for herself. I held her tighter, knowing that for the last few hours she had sat here alone with her panic.

"What happens now?" She asked.

"Now we wait, I think. We have to clean up the field and prep for Thanos to come back but we can't do much until the cell opens."

"What if..." She trailed off.

I rubbed her back and squeezed her tight. "Daddy's gonna be fine. He's been through a lot and he's come out alright and-"

"But he wasn't alright for a long time. And what if he's not this time?"

What if we didn't find him alive? That was my first question. Heimdall would be able to tell us. I suspected Loki was too far for Kenna to find him. Keeping my thoughts to myself, I hugged Kenna tightly. "He'll be okay. I know he will. Come on. Let's see if we can help."

She nodded and took my hand. I led her out and through the rubble towards the battlefield. I found Thor. He was supporting Hogun as a medic tended to him. "Thor." I said quietly.

He turned to me. "Loki is gone?" I nodded and he took a moment, worry and stress running through him. "Heimdall is badly wounded. Father cannot see them. They are a mystery to us. The Cell is gone, though. Your plan is working for the most part."

I nodded, finding I was far less than satisfied. "What can I do?" I looked around. Thor shook his head.

"Nothing here. See to it that there is order inside. The people will have questions and we cannot have any discord among the ranks. We will see to the wounded."