Child Of Fire

Chapter 6//Hello

{{Ellie POV}}

    "Hello?" I say again. "Hello, Miss Jones." I hear a voice say. I jump slightly, startled. "What- who- hi." I say. "Ellie, what are you doing over here?" I hear the voice say. "I don't know. I heard footsteps, and I started following them, but they stopped and now I don't know where I am." I say. "Come on." A hand lands on my shoulder, which I shrug off. "I can walk perfectly fine." I say, then immediately bump nose first into a wall. "At least take my hand." I sigh, putting my hand out, immediately feeling the person slip their warm hand into mine. A few minutes later, I hear the talking of other people, and feel the person beside me stop and disappear. I frown, but I know that I will be with them soon, next time I'm lost.

{{Timeskip//Loki POV}}

    It's been about 2 days since I learned her name, and it still stuns me that she asked me what mine is. As this runs through my head, I hear a knock on the door. "I hope this is the right door." I hear Ellie mutter. "Well, it depends on who you're looking for." I say, opening the door, and her face lights up. "It's taken me forever to find your door, Loki." she says, the smile on her face growing larger. "I'm so glad I found it, or I would have been looking for hours." Ellie says, hesitantly taking a step in. I step back, and Ellie freezes, before she starts sweeping the ground in front of her with her feet. I knit my eyebrows together, confused. "What are you doing?" I ask quietly. Ellie slowly turns her head up, towards me. Her expression turns hopeful, like she hopes I'm joking. "What do you mean?" Ellie asks. "What are you doing with your feet?" I ask slowly. Her face falls, and she stops moving.

    "I- I can't see anything." Ellie says, then presses her lips into a tight line. "What do you mean? You're-" "Yes, I'm blind. Do you want me to say it again? Would you like me to spell it out letter for letter?" Ellie says, so much venom suddenly in her voice. "Ellie, I'm sorry." I say. "Don't be. I've been absolutely fine for 14 years like this, and I'll be fine like this forever." Ellie says, sounding like she was forcing cheerfulness in her voice. "No, I'm sorry that I made you feel bad." I say, taking her hands. She flinches back, trying to take her hands away from mine, but I hold on tighter, and lift one to my mouth. I kiss her hand lightly, and she pauses, her eyes widening. I slowly let go of her hand, but she stays still, like she's frozen to the spot.

    A smile dawns on her face, and a blush takes over Ellie's face. "Are you ok?" I ask quietly. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Why would you ask that?" Ellie says quickly, rubbing her face.

{{Ellie POV}}

    What is he doing? Loki grabs my hands, and when I try to take my hands back, he holds them tighter, and then kisses one. His lips against my hand are cold, sending a thrill through my body. I feel him let go of my hands, but I can't move, I feel like a statue. "Are you ok?" I hear Loki ask. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Why would you ask that?" I say, rubbing my face. I can't help but smile at the level of concern in his voice, and the smiling makes me want to smile more. "Are you sure?" Loki says. "Yeah. Loki, I'm fine." I say, knowing I probably look stupid with how big my smile is on my face. "You don't look stupid, love." Loki says, and I knit my eyebrows together. "I can read minds, princess." Loki says.

    Oh my god, he called me love, I think my heart is going to explode. I have to bite my tongue from smiling even more, and I hear Loki laugh slightly. Oh my god, his laugh is adorable. I can feel my temperature rising, and I back up, tripping over my feet. I fall over, and quickly scramble up. "Are you ok, Ellie?" Loki asks, as I hear him approach me. "Don't touch me, I'll burn you." I say, but I'm too late. Loki puts his hand on my arm, then immediately yanks his hand off. "What the-" Loki says.

{{Loki POV}}

    I examine my hand, looking at the burn. "I'm sorry." Ellie says, backing up. "It's ok. You didn't mean to." I say, as my hand begins to heal. "I heal fast, I'm fine." I say. "I- Loki, I'm so sorry." Ellie says again. "Stop apologizing, I'm fine." I say. Ellie backs out of my room, then walks away. I feel my face fall, but don't care.

{{Ellie POV}}

    Oh my god oh my god oh my god. I feel horrible! I back out of Loki's room as carefully as I can, then go to my room as fast as I can without bumping into any walls or falling over. As soon as I close my bedroom door, I feel hot salty tears fall down my face.

    I didn't mean to hurt him, and now he probably thinks I'm a monster. What did he mean, 'I heal fast'? He's obviously not fine, he just got burned by touching me. I need to calm down.

    I take a few deep breaths, and I feel the tight ball of panic in my chest loosen, making me feel better. I can feel myself cooling down, which is good. I sit on the ground, and stay like that for a while, feeling myself drift into sleep.

    "You're a monster!" "Nobody will love you, you're such a freak!" "I hate you, and wish that you had never been born." "You're going to die alone, and nobody is going to miss you." "Freak!" "Feel free to die while I'm at the store, freak." "Don't call me your mother!" "You're the reason that your father left. We were happy without you!" "You ruined my life, you freak!"

    I wake up, tears streaming down my face. I bury my head in my hands, letting myself cry for what feels like hours, but what was probably only a few minutes. I hear a soft knock on my door, and I rub my face, trying to get rid of the tears. "Ellie?" Natasha's voice says. "Leave me alone." I say, knowing she'd bust into my room in seconds, and I was right. I hear the door open, and I groan. "Just leave me alone, Natasha." I say. "No, you are going to eat something." I scowl, but slowly stand up, stretching my arms and legs. I slowly grab Natasha's hand, and she leads me to the kitchen. I stop just inside, not knowing what to do. I hear Natasha going through the cabinets, but I stand still. "Here. Eat this." Natasha says, pressing something in my hands. "What is it?" I say, feeling the wrapper. "It's some poptarts. I don't care how grumpy Thor gets, you need to eat something." I smile, carefully ripping the wrapper.

    I feel the corner of the poptart, and I slowly bite into it, smiling. "What flavor is this?" I ask after I swallow. "Chocolate." Natasha says, and I feel my smile grow wider. "I love chocolate." I take another bite, when I hear footsteps coming in. "Hey Steve." I hear Natasha say, and I quickly relax. "Hey, Nat. Why is she eating Thor's poptarts?" I hear Steve say. "I gave them to her. She's a kid, I don't know what she eats." Natasha says. "I'm blind, not deaf. And this 'she' will eat anything." I say. "Sorry, Ellie." Natasha says, and I smile, taking another bite of poptart.

{{Loki POV}}

    "I gave them to her. She's a kid, I don't know what she eats." Natasha says. "I'm blind, not deaf. And this 'she' will eat anything." Ellie says. "Sorry, Ellie." Natasha says. I look over to see Ellie smiling, eating a poptart. Ellie sniffles, rubbing her nose with her sleeve. "Gross, Ellie. Here, blow your nose." Natasha says, handing Ellie a tissue. Ellie blows her nose, and Natasha takes the tissue, throwing it in the trash. I go back to my book, still listening to their conversation. A few minutes later, Ellie moves slowly to the living room, Lady Natasha right behind her. Lady Natasha turns on the television, and the news pops up.

    I listen intently, but keep looking at my book. "We finally have the identity of all the people who died in the tragic apartment building fire on the corner of Jackson Avenue and Davis street a few weeks ago." Ellie perks up immediately, and Lady Natasha tries to turn it off. "Turn it up, I need to hear this." Ellie says, and Lady Natasha sighs, clicking one of the buttons several times.