Troubled Mind | Bucky Barnes

Part 13

A/N: I love the comments I've been seeing so far. It brings me such joy! Especially the guesses and predictions. If you are wondering about where this new acquaintanceship with Loki and Alexi is heading, I'm afraid this chapter won't provide a clear cut answer. ;)

Sadly, this story will be coming to an end very soon. There are only a couple more chapters left but I have started a new Bucky story. It's still very early stages but I appreciate all the love and support I've gotten from you all and hope you'll stick with me!

Hope you enjoy this extra long chapter. Please vote and share with friends!

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Over the next several days, she worked with Thor and the healers all day, every day. Loki mostly stood in the background very annoyed. Sometimes they would go into their training room and work on the mental triggers. It generally ended with Alexi losing control and Thor and Loki having to battle her to the ground. It proved a much larger task than they originally anticipated. She was beginning to lose track of time as the days turned into weeks.

Much of this day in particular was spent waiting for her to recover from her recent bout. She was learning to control the wild rage that took over her to the point where she was less susceptible to the triggers but still able to be influenced. At her request, Thor never left her alone with Loki when they were training, and he never had access to the music that would set her off. She didn't fear him, only what he might make her do if he could learn to control her. It was too horrible a thought to consider. As the days went on, her initial fears of this lessened without her realizing. She was often alone with Loki, usually just bickering and belittling each other. Neither of them even noticed when Thor would leave for whole days attending to his father's affairs for this or that.

Often, they would be training, or fighting, and he would pull tricks on her like materializing in and out of places or suddenly pulling his daggers out. He never really tried to hurt or kill her but over time, understanding her strength, his attacks were getting more and more aggressive. Only a few times did he accidentally swipe her with the blade. The cuts were superficial and always healed very quickly. Once, much to Alexi's shock, he even apologized. It was quiet and quick and to Loki's relief, never acknowledged.

He loved to create illusions and suddenly jump from one place to another, causing her to crash into a wall or miss completely and fall to the ground while they were fighting. She was a little impressed with his magic, but she would never let him know that. After a while, he started doing more magic that didn't appear to have the purpose of playing a joke on her. If she didn't know any better, she would think he was trying to impress her. The truth of it was that he was getting rather bored on these long days and Thor wouldn't allow him to do anything else. He was entertaining himself as much as her.

"Where did you learn to do all that?" Alexi asked, watching Loki as he absent-mindedly pulled his dagger out of thin air in his right hand and suddenly swish it out of existence again. He was leaning against a wall while Alexi took a break to have a sip of water.

"My mother," he answered curtly.

"Frigga taught you that?" she repeated.

He rolled his eyes. "She taught me magic. I learned to use it how and when I like."

"Can anyone learn magic, or do you have to be some kind of magical being?" she asked further. She knew he hated personal questions, but he loved to show off and seemed to be in a more forgiving mood lately, so she decided to press him a bit further.

He scoffed at her, stepping closer. "You will never be able to summon any magic, mortal."

Alexi looked annoyed. "Why not? You and Frigga aren't the same species, but you can do it."