The Ancient Sorceress ~Loki x Bucky AU~

Chapter 25

It had been a few weeks since Loki had decided to come out of his cell. He hadn't caused any trouble because he really kept to himself. He never made an appearance at the dinner table to try to eat with the team. He followed the conditions he was given on training. He usually trained whenever the rest of the team had left the training room. Most of the team seemed to be relaxing a bit more seeing that he never graced them with his presence. However, when he did come near them, they would all tense up and glare his way. Tony never missed an opportunity to make jabs at him, expressing his discomfort that the god was still there.

Shadow on the other hand was struggling. She felt lost, hopeless. She was trying to get Loki out of his shell to where he could show the team he was actually a good man. He refused most of the time. When Shadow finally would get him to come out of his room, someone on the team would either glare or make a comment, or just leave the room. When that happened, Loki would just march right back into his room and shut Shadow out.

She got to the point where she would just try to spend time with Loki in his room, hoping she could get him to trust her. He appreciated her company, although he never showed it when he was around the others. She would constantly bring him food, sacrificing her meals just to see him get what he needed. The team was getting really concerned about the girl because she was distancing herself more and more from the team.

Clint and Nat told Tony to start having Jarvis track her sleeping patterns. Once they discovered that she wasn't sleeping more than an hour or two each night, they were starting to get concerned. They were also worried about how she was starting to miss training and Tony would send Thor or Clint to find her. They would find her locked in her room or with Loki.

She started keeping herself in her room, not wanting to be around anyone. The ache in her chest had grown and when Loki would shut her out, it caused the pain to get worse. She didn't want to eat, she could barely sleep because of the nightmares, and someone she felt was her soulmate was pushing her away. She was laying on her bed when she decided to call Alice.

"Hello dearie. I've missed hearing your voice. How is everything going?" Alice heard soft sniffles on the other side of the phone and frowned. "Oh....Doe what's wrong honey?"

"I think I found my soulmate...but it feels like he doesn't want me." Shadow let the tears fall on her cheeks. She had been trying to keep it together but it was getting difficult.

"Have they talked to you about being soulmates? Have you felt anything around them?" Alice asked softly. Shadow recalled all of her encounters with Loki and how she knew that he was meant for her.

"I have felt the ache in my chest and the ache in my mark. We've touched each other hands and I felt sparks. But....No...he doesn't ever say anything about it or seem to acknowledge that I am his mate." Shadow replied shaking. She let out a gut wrenching sob, sliding off of her bed and onto the floor. She held her head in her hands.

"Well dear, I will say one thing. You never have to accept the bond right away, but you will feel lost and it will affect you negatively until you do. I guess you must be getting the brunt of the feelings over him. There may be a reason he hasn't said anything too. Have you tried bringing it up to him?"

"No...its just...complicated." Shadow heard a knock on her door and told Alice that she would call her later, saying she had a meeting to go to. She hung up the phone and stayed on the floor in front of her bed.

"Go away..." She replied lowly. She heard a huff on the other side of the door.

"Please open the door....I'm worried about you." She could hear Clints voice on the other side. She sighed and got up to unlock the door. She didn't care how awful she looked. She was starting to not care much at all about anything. Clint locked eyes with Shadow and was stunned at the appearance of the girl.