Give me Love

21. Return to Grace

You both rounded a corner, readying to head to the stairs, but before you could get there, you were knocked back by Loki when a large Chitauri soldier sung at him. You fell into a small, half-dead pot plant and knocked it over, sending the remnants of the tree and dirt all over the ground and your body. The Chitauri swung at Loki once more, but he blocked it and punched the alien in the cheek. It seemed unfazed by Loki's attack and turned its attention to you. Having noticed the Chitauri's interest in you, the dark haired prince quickly intervened.

"Enough!" Loki yelled while shoving the Chitauri soldier away. "I know your race is dull, but I did not expect you to be this stupid!" Upon realising who it had attacked, the Chitauri soldier knelt before Loki. It gurgled and made other screeching noises that you guessed to be its language before falling silent. Begrudgingly Loki then waved his hand and shooed the alien away.

With a heavy, tired sigh Loki turned around and offered you his hand,

"Do forgive-," Loki trailed off when he met your gaze. "What's wrong?" But you couldn't answer, you were too transfixed on the small red light dancing on his chest - - Your eyes widened and the mental image of Loki being shot through the chest infiltrated your mind. Without thinking and in one quick movement you snagged his hand, and ripped him downwards. You heard a shot, and vaguely saw the bullet hit the wall, but that didn't matter. Loki was okay; probably a little irritable from being forced onto the ground, but okay. Hushed murmurs echoed loudly in the otherwise quiet room. The thing you knew, Loki was no longer above you and pained groans and wails came from the men behind you. You turned and saw a bleeding man stumbling towards you. Hurriedly you scampered away, and the mortally wounded soldier fell to the ground. You watched as the man's blood slowly spilled onto the cold floor and his dimming eyes met your own. A sharp gasp caught in your throat as his blood seeped closer to your foot. You pulled away, and you were a safe distance away, you looked back to Loki, having not realised he was single-handedly taking on three other men. For a moment your heart raced, fearing Loki would lose, but it took him little under a minute to subdue the attackers, and by that time the other HYDRA agent was dead at your feet.

Loki was breathing hard when you finally saw him relax. He ran his hands through his hair to pull back the stray strands before he stepped over the dead body and pulled you to your feet, brushing the dirt off of your skin and dress once you found your feet.

"I didn't realise how out of hand the situation was... I would not have brought you back had I known..." he glanced up, but didn't meet your eyes for longer than a moment. Your hands moved to Loki's cheeks to force him to look at you. His sparkling eyes made you stumble on your words for a moment,

"I-It's fine..." you said with a warming smile. He ran his hand through your hair to loosen the last of the dirt before he slowly pulled you to his chest,

"It's not safe down here." He murmured before teleporting the both of you to the penthouse suite.

It took a small moment to regain your senses, but once your head stopped spinning you were able to hear people shouting and the rattling of gunfire.

"Stay here, lock the doors, and hide yourself. It shouldn't take long to rein everyone back into line." He quickly released you and turned to walk back through the glowing portal.

"No, wait!" you swiftly stepped forward and grabbed his wrist. More gunfire and the sound of breaking walls made you flinch. All of a sudden you felt too exposed, too weak and feeble in comparison to the warriors that occupied the building. "Please don't leave me alone..." Loki turned and ran his thumb over your cheek.

"You will be safe here. The sooner I leave, the sooner I will be able to return." He leaned closer, "No harm will come to you here." He gingerly pressed his lips to your own. Your hand slipped free from his wrist and took up residence on his chest. Loki broke the kiss far too soon for your liking. "I will not leave you for long..." He said and then turned, moving into the bright green light of the portal. Just before he disappeared, you saw a golden veil of armour drape around his body and a forest green cape fall to his ankles. The portal quickly shut, and he was gone; and you were alone...