Flightless (LokixReader)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

(Your Pov)

Your horns kept growing.

Once they broke free of your skin, they continued to grow so that by the end of the week the longest stretched the full length of your thumb. There were no more than the six that first showed up, each set growing smaller the farther they were from your forehead. Surprisingly your hair wasn't a problem. Your skin split to accommodate the growth, and took any in-the-way hair along for the ride. You did place an illusion on them that night with Tony. No one would be able to see or feel the new growth. The genius didn't have a plan yet, but he was going to help you. 

He promised.

But for now, illusions and being careful would have to do. You didn't drop your magic to show Stark your scales that you confessed in the conversation, though he was curious. Every day you found that your wounds became less and less painful, until piece by piece the scales appeared. Only, not like last time. They didn't stay in just the wounded areas. The scales stretched beneath your skin to cover the entire wounded area from your lower thigh to the hole in your side. You tried not to peel away the skin just yet, knowing that that would only fuel their growth.

The Avengers didn't ask about Fury's interrogation and your hand in stopping it, nor did they ask about you and Loki, thankfully. Loki on the other hand... He disappeared. He did not invite you to magic lessons, he didn't discuss the quest, he was never even in the same room as you were for the following week. The prince wanted nothing to do with you, and you supposed such a reaction was only necessary after your slip up. After you nearly told all the secrets you weren't even supposed to know. That doesn't mean it didn't kill you inside once you realized it.

Autumn came to visit, and decided to stay for the season. You watched as the tiny trees below the tower took their turns to turn their leaves into fiery colors, and the streets of New York became covered in a layer of their flames. The weather started to grow colder, and you found it more and more difficult to manage your own body heat. You didn't want to think that your body started to become cold blooded, and yet... Despite your best efforts you still needed a variety of sources to keep your body comfortably warmer than human.

The Avengers did decide to ask about the sudden presence of thicker layers. To which you chalked up the change to an inclination for warmer weather. An occurrence you knew happened with the humans, as entire tribes used to migrate according to the season.

Thor... Well, Thor wasn't quite suspicious. Nevertheless, he did seem wary of you and your actions. As if you had betrayed him but he wasn't sure of how. Your gut knew that it must have something to do with Loki; even if he refused to see you or the team, you knew that Thor would still go looking for him. Let alone, the team may have not questioned you because Loki already answered them.

Now that was a terrifying thought. It was one thing for your lips to slip up and another completely if the team pressed farther. If Loki had to clean up the mess you made.

Through all of this, you decided you needed to clear the waters between you and Loki. Even if he never wanted to speak to you again, you needed to apologize and let him know you truly meant no harm. It was an accident.

You never wanted to hurt him.

So, with a little help from Jarvis, you time your visit to the library to coincide with the prince's. It would be brief, polite, apologetic, and hopefully enough to sate his worry. You planned to tell him about the Avengers and how they didn't ask you anything more. If he insisted to know "what the hell was that", you were ready to admit worrying about him. Wanting to... You didn't want to say protect, but to help him.

You entered the library with all of these plans, ready for the coming conversation. Ready in case things took a turn for the worst, although still hoping for the best.