ACATALEPSY ➺ loki

41 , deus ex machina

"Elaina? Hey, are you alright? Wake up. Elaina!" My eyes opened to the sight of Natasha Romanoff kneeling down before me, and for a few seconds I had no idea where I was, until everything came flooding back to me. I almost cursed myself as I tried to scramble up—not being able to believe that I had somehow managed to pass out right before Loki attempted something so dangerous. Had I failed him? Had I really managed to mess up right then? Natasha tried to hold me down, but I pushed past her—forcing myself back onto my knees in an attempt to look around at my surroundings. One of the first things I noticed was a group of avengers circling around something or someone a few feet away from me, and that was enough for my heart to sink.

"Loki—please, Nat tell me he's not gone. He can't be gone." I felt the tears return to my eyes as I somehow managed to get to my feet and stumble a few feet closer to where the group had gathered, trying my best to get a look at whatever had caught their attention, but failing to do so.

"Hey, Elaina, look at me." I felt Natasha grab hold of me and spin me around to face her, the woman firmly placing her hands on both of my shoulders to stop me from moving as she forced my frantic eyes to meet hers. "He's alright, Elaina. He's alive. I only came to check on you once I was sure of that, please don't worry about him. Turn's out Loki's stronger than you thought—he's hurt pretty badly, I won't lie. But he will be fine in a few days. And I have to admit, I'm very glad he was the one to do the snap—what were you even thinking, Elaina!? You would have died, you know that? Why would you... I'm just glad you're both alright."

My breathing calmed a little bit at Natasha's words, but I still wasn't willing to stop moving until I had managed to push past all the avengers around Loki's body and kneel down in front of the man, who had been propped up against a rock, his eyes barely open. "Hey, hey Loki, can you hear me? We did it—you did it. You won. It's going to be alright, okay? You're going to be fine... you're going to be okay..." I whispered, feeling a few warm tears run down my face as I gently placed one of my hands on the god charred one, but I didn't care if anyone was watching and would make fun of us later.

Thankfully, Loki seemed to still be conscious enough to register everything that I was saying, and even through the clear pain I could make out on his expression, I saw a small smile make its way onto his lips as he tightened his hold on my hand for a second. "I know that, my lady. I'm not worried. Thank you for... for letting me do that."

I let out a half laugh half sob as I listened to the man who had just saved my life thank me for letting him do that. "Loki, please, I thought you were meant to be the smart one! Jesus, don't you dare thank me for saving my life! You just risked almost everything for that, which I'm still mad at you about, by the way. But thank you for doing that, really. I didn't... I couldn't risk losing you, I hope you understand that. But you should rest now, Loki. You've done more than enough for all of us. Take a break." I let my hand move from his own to the mans cheek, and he closed his eyes as I touched his face. A look of peace crossed his futures a few seconds later, and only once I was sure he had fallen unconscious, I let my hand move away from him, slowly backing away from the man—only then really remembering that the whole team was standing there, watching. I knew that I didn't really care if they had seen what I had said to Loki, as I would have pretty much said the same about any of them, but I couldn't help my cheeks from heating up at the look Tony was giving the two of us.

I broke away from the group as I watched Steve and Bruce carry Loki back inside the compound, that had some how managed to stay standing throughout the whole battle—an improvement from the movies. The lawn was pretty much completely destroyed, though, but Tony had assured me that that would be taken care of within the next few days and that I didn't need to worry about it, before he too followed some of the others into the compound. Still, a strange sense of grief washed over me as I sat down on one of the rocks that had been pushed aside during the battle. I wasn't exactly sure why I was feeling the way I was, after all... we had won, hadn't we? So why did I feel more like crying and just breaking down than celebrating? It hit me as I watched some of the Wakandan fighters gather around one of the bodies still left of the battlefield—the warriors lifting their spears up into the air in some sort of tribute a few seconds later. Only then did I understand what it was—because in the movies, we had almost immediately moved away from the scene where everything had taken place. We had followed the avengers through their grief over Natasha and Tony, but that had been it. We hadn't had to bother about all the other fallen who had fought so bravely on our side. We hadn't had to watch the Wakandan's slowly drag the bodies of their teammates off the field, trying to figure out ways to transport all the bodies back to their hometown to give them a proper burial. We didn't have to watch two of the sorcerers from Kamar-Taj break down next to the body of a girl who barely looked old enough to be part of a fight like this—and I could only imagine the two people kneeling over her body to be her parents.