Feel Something

Chapter 20: I Think I Was Blind Before I Met You

Darcy stumbled to catch her footing as Loki released his hold on her and paced away, practically bouncing with energy as he tossed the Tesseract into the air and made it vanish before her eyes.

He was wired in a way she had never seen him before. It reminded her of the glint in his eye whenever he was up to some sort of amusing scheme, but on a much larger scale. He was still her Loki, but he was something else now too. This was the god of Norse mythology—the God of Mischief.

She watched in stunned amazement as he wove green patterns and shapes in the air around him, laughing and smiling maniacally all the while. Worried they might draw unwanted attention as a result of his sorcery, Darcy looked around. Surely people on a bustling New York street would notice—

"Um...Loki?"

Loki let his magic fizzle away as he turned to face her, still grinning from ear to ear. Suddenly he was standing right in front of her, stealing a quick kiss before resting his forehead gently against hers, "Something wrong, my dear?"

"Yeah—I mean, no. Maybe? It's just...this isn't New York. I thought you were taking us back to HQ?"

Loki looked up in surprise, scanning the area around them as if he just realized they even existed on a temporal plane. They were standing in the middle of a large field of tall grass—so large, in fact, that there was nothing else within Darcy's line of sight.

"Ah, that," he muttered, allowing a hint of guilt to play across his features. "Sort of an impulse decision on my part...I really don't want to bother with the hassle of explaining myself to SHIELD just yet. They will surely want an extensive report, not to mention a whole new slew of tests given my returned seidr." Loki locked eyes with Darcy again, cupping her face in his large hands. "I just got my life back, Minn Ijós. I'd like to enjoy it for a time. With you. Is that so wrong?"

"Not at all, I'm totally game to play hooky!" Darcy grinned broadly before wincing and grabbing her wounded arm again. "But maybe we can start our little runaway act after I get this bullet wound taken care of? Honestly not sure how I'm conscious right now..."

Loki grabbed Darcy to stop her from collapsing, easing her gently to the ground. "I'm sorry, Minn Ijós, I forgot your pain yet again. My mind is so scattered right now. Taking in all of my power and immortality at once, it's...jarring." As he spoke, Loki tore the fabric of Darcy's shirt, exposing her wounded shoulder. Bringing his hand up to hover just a few inches above the wound, green light swirled in his palm before he hesitated. "I must apologize once more, Darcy...this is most certainly going to hurt. A lot."

"What's going to—" Darcy's inquiry was cut off by a shriek she dimly recognized as her own. She could feel the bullet shards shifting beneath her skin, retracing their path back out of her shoulder. It was like getting shot all over again, but in excruciating slow-motion, as Loki's magic dragged the shards back together and toward the surface.

"Almost finished, Minn—"

Darcy didn't hear the rest as the pain became too much to bear and she blacked out.

~~~

After he finished sealing Darcy's wound, Loki rested her unconscious form back on the soft grass and rose to his feet. Moving a safe distance from Darcy, he once again allowed his seidr to flow out and around him freely. It felt like sinking into freshly laundered silk sheets after months of sleeping on cold, hard ground. It felt like washing away the filth of battle in a luxuriously warm bath filled with salts, oils, and rose petals. It felt like regaining sight when he hadn't even realized how blind he truly was.

Loki felt whole again. He had been living as half a man—mortal and powerless in every sense of the word. This was who he was meant to be. He no longer needed the aid of Midgardian allies. Free from the need for them, and free from Asgard's chokehold, he would want for nothing. He could go anywhere, do anything, be anything. This was what was right.