Enchanted Shadows

Chapter 37 - Alone in the Darkness

**POV:** Maya

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Returning to the Avengers felt like stepping into a world that I no longer belonged to. Their faces were familiar, but the looks in their eyes were foreign—suspicion, pity, judgment. They didn't understand what I had sacrificed, what Loki and I had been through. To them, he was the enemy, and I was his puppet. They couldn't see the man behind the mask, the man I loved. Or at least, the man I thought I loved.

Natasha approached me first, her eyes scanning me like I was a stranger. "Maya," she said cautiously, "we need to talk."

I could feel the eyes of the others on me—Steve, Tony, Bruce. They watched as if waiting for me to break, to confess my sins and beg for forgiveness. But what they didn't understand was that I didn't want forgiveness. Not from them.

"I don't have anything to say," I replied, my voice hollow.

Natasha sighed, glancing at the others before taking my arm and pulling me aside. "This isn't you," she said quietly. "What has he done to you?"

I yanked my arm away. "He hasn't done anything to me," I snapped. "He's the only one who's ever seen me for who I really am."

"That's not true," she protested, her eyes pleading with me. "We see you, Maya. We've always seen you. You've just been blinded by him."

I shook my head, feeling the familiar sting of Loki's words in my mind, twisting my thoughts. "No," I hissed. "You've always seen me as your shadow. As someone to be protected, controlled. Loki... he freed me."

Natasha's expression softened, a look of sorrow crossing her face. "Is that what you think?" she asked, her voice breaking. "That we were trying to control you? Maya, we love you. I love you. I've always wanted to protect you."

"Love is control," I shot back, the words tumbling out of my mouth with venom. "It's manipulation. That's what you did. You and SHIELD. You never wanted me to be more than what you needed me to be."

Natasha's eyes widened, and for a moment, I saw the cracks in her armor. "That's not true," she whispered. "We wanted you to be safe. I wanted you to be happy."

"Happiness?" I scoffed. "You call this happiness? Living in your shadow, never being enough? With Loki, I am more than just your sister. I am powerful."

Her face twisted in pain. "You're not powerful, Maya," she said softly. "You're under his control. He's twisted you into something you're not."

I felt the anger boil in my veins. "You don't know anything about him," I snarled. "He loves me. He believes in me."

Natasha's eyes hardened. "Love? Is that what you think this is? Love is not manipulation, it's not control. What he's done to you, what he's made you do, that's not love, Maya."

I stepped back, feeling the world tilt around me. Her words echoed in my mind, clashing with Loki's voice, his whispers of devotion and power. "You're wrong," I said, my voice trembling. "He needs me."

"He needs you," Natasha repeated bitterly. "He needs you to serve his purpose. To be his pawn. And you... you let him do this to you."

I opened my mouth to retort, but the words caught in my throat. She was wrong. She had to be. But there was a small, nagging voice inside me that whispered, what if she's right?

"Leave me alone," I muttered, turning away. "You don't understand."

"No, I don't," Natasha said, her voice raw. "I don't understand how you can still defend him after everything he's done. How you can still love him."