A Tale of Mischief and Mutants part 2

Storebror

—-Sam—-

Loki is quickly rushed away by the healers before we even reach the emergency entrance to the hospital. The healers are at first pretty taken aback and unsettled by Loki's appearance. It's understandable they're not warriors that would have left Asgard for battles and they've probably never seen a Frost Giant in real life before outside of Loki while in Asgardian form.

They're in a mix of awe and uncertainty for a couple seconds but quickly shake it off and carry on with their duties. Thor and I follow in a hurry I can see some of them want to object as we follow them into the ER. Standard procedure prohibits non medical staff from being in the room during certain treatments but I can see the idea of trying to force us to leave goes as quickly as it came.

They know from one glance at us we're not going anywhere and save their breath. Instead they simply ask us what we know about his condition. Thor answers their rapid questions as best he can using his com to ask Steve and the others for clarification when he's not sure.

Thor also tells them about Strange's potion explaining that it makes touching Loki safe for now and going into detail about the side effects of it they should be aware of, relaying heaps of information in a very short amount of time.

Once they've thoroughly drilled him they quickly set to work taking a small blood sample from Loki to gauge just how bad the dehydration is and begin the process of preparing to hook him up with an IV to get him rehydrated.

They do a rigorous examination of him even stripping him down to his boxers to search for injuries that may have been hidden. Finding only a nasty wound on his ankle Steve confirms was caused by a chain strong enough to hold him. They patch this up quickly then move on to the IV.

The second the large IV needle is injected into Loki's vein his eyes snap open. He cries out in a raspy whimper and attempts to get away from the healers looking more scared than I've ever seen him before. It absolutely breaks my heart how desperate and terrified he is. Though he's very weak Loki still somehow manages to get away from them and backs into the corner of the room.

His eyes search the room frantically before finally landing on the door that luckily is behind the seven healers and Thor and myself. Thor takes a step towards him but from the way Loki reacts it's clear his mind is still confused.

He presses himself further into the corner using all his remaining strength to prop himself up into a sitting position as he cowers from his own brother. I begin crying at the scene and I once again hear the rumble of thunder outside as I look to Thor and find the same is true for him. He gets on his com sounding incredibly heartbroken.

"Strange, we need more of that potion."

He turns his attention back towards his little brother and slowly crouches down so he's at eye level with him.

"Loki... We're home brother, you're safe. Please don't fight us."

Loki looks at Thor with a look both terrified and blank. He doesn't register that it's Thor talking to him or what he's saying to him he just knows someone's there and that he's scared of them. I can't help but have the hunch that in his mind he's back aboard Sanctuary or back on Titan. The thought makes my stomach drop. It would explain everything about his distrust if that's where his head's at. I also crouch down.

"Hey there trouble, it's okay Lo' we're not gonna hurt you baby."

I know he's probably too out of it to understand but I start trying to explain and reassure him anyway.

"We gotta get you on an IV honey. I know it's sharp and not really the most comfortable thing but we've gotta get some fluids back in your system and your stomach's not ready to handle that much water after being empty for so long."

His eyes drift to me but he still seems afraid and confused. From behind me I hear the door burst open this only makes Loki tense up further. I look behind me to see Strange is standing there with the potion already loaded into a syringe. I don't want to sound ungrateful but I can't help but question.

"Strange... is the injection really necessary?"

He nods sadly glancing over Loki.

"I'm afraid so I don't think he'll take it voluntarily right now."

"At least let me try once."

Strange looks like he wants to argue but I look at him pleadingly. Loki's already so scared and I don't want to make that worse in any way. He reluctantly nods and the syringe in his hands transforms into a small medicine cup. I stand and carefully take it from him. I turn back to Loki and crouch down once again.

"Loki please you've got to either let us help you or drink this so you'll go back to sleep for a while. I know everything's scary but we have to help you I don't want to have to make you take this with a needle but I will if you won't take it because we have to get you rehydrated before it's too late."

He looks at me as if not comprehending what I've said. I just move closer to him this is when it becomes abundantly clear I can't reason with him right now. He begins sobbing in a tearless cry, I can't stand that so I quickly move away realizing I'm doing just as much to scare him right now as the syringe would. I hand it back to strange and he changes it back to a syringe. Thor looks away from his trembling brother and up at us.

"Give it to me, I'll do it. We've gotta get him out of this state, and that's not going to happen until he's hydrated."

Stephen nods and hands him the syringe. Thor approaches his shaking brother with tears in his eyes. Loki presses himself further back into the wall as if trying to escape into it. What he says next in a raspy desperate sobbing plea stops Thor in his tracks for a moment.

"I-I'm sorry- I'm sorry I di-didn't get it!"

Thor lets out a soft yet heartbreaking cry of sorrow himself at this reaction from his little brother. He wipes tears from his face as he tries his best to collect himself Loki's plea has revealed our exact worst fear for him in this situation to be true. Loki thinks he's back aboard sanctuary back in the hands of a madman.

Thor finally manages to make himself move again and forces Loki to be still as he injects the potion. Thor lets his tears flow as he does this knowing Loki sees him as Thanos or one of his other tormentors. As Loki goes limp Thor holds his little brother close to him seeming to be trying to break whatever hallucination or delusion has its hold over Loki's mind to cause him this much fear.

"It's okay lillebror you're safe. That madman has been dead and gone for years the others are dead too they can't hurt you, I've got you storebror is here. ikke vær redd."

He sits and comforts his sleeping brother and I join him, feeling sick to my stomach about the fear I just witnessed my husband experience. The healers connect the IV to Loki right there on the floor in Thor's arms knowing that asking Thor to move him to the bed and to leave him be is simply not happening. We both sit there with him comforting him even though we both know he's out cold and is completely unaware of our actions.

We don't care, asleep or awake comforting him is what we feel compelled to do because of how distraught we saw him today. We both sit like this on the floor for hours just waiting for Loki to wake up in a better state of mind.