Do You Have Heart (Avengers/Loki fan-fiction)

Chapter Ten - What Have I Done

ALINA/VOR'S POV

I can't move; my feet are rooted to the floor and seem to stay that way, even as the burning room erupts into chaos around me. I just can't move.

I know that this is going to cause serious damage: first the explosion, and now the ever-nearing rage that threatens to engulf my being. I just can't believe he did it.

I told him not to mess it up for himself; not to take it any further than he already has. But he didn't listen to me. He never listens to me: even with all the wisdom inside my head, Loki refuses to heed my words.

I don't know what will become of our friendship after this. It feels as if someone has just shot me straight through the chest: Loki has been my best friend for a thousand years, and he chooses that his way to welcome me back to reality is to betray my trust.

It's almost ironic; the way that it was always me telling him never to trust anyone, especially me. And now he is the one to betray me, rather than the other way around.

"Ali! Are you even listening to me?" a frantic voice breaks me out of my trance, and my eyes come to rest on Maria, who seems to be screaming at me from across the room, quickly tapping away at the keyboard in front of her "The engine is down, we need someone to get it back running! You and Stark are the only people on this ship capable of flight, get out there and-" she stops suddenly, listening intently, probably to something in her earpiece, and then waves me away "Don't worry Ali, go, and stop Loki by any means necessary!"

I feel my own head nodding even though it seems like I haven't even told it to, and my feet move without command, towards the door, running back down the corridor to the lab. But it seems to no longer exist: when I arrive, the whole entire floor has caved in, leaving nothing but destroyed wreckage of the scientific equipment that had previously stood there.

Crap, we're going down if Stark doesn't get that engine up and running again.

And it's all Loki's fault.

I still refuse to let myself believe it: that he caused all this destruction. Loki, my oldest and closest friend, one that has been by my side for over a thousand years, no longer has my back. I have to refer to him as the enemy, as an evil force from the outside. When, really, he is the only thing from my real home that I have here.

He is the reason that I have returned: that Vor Arandoldottir has returned, to take back her own mind from Alina. He is the only one that cares.

I think back to his question, only an hour or so before now, 'Do you have heart?', and find myself laughing at my answer: even though I didn't look like myself back then, he knew that he would be able to tell if I were Vor, just from my answer. Clever, that's my Loki. Maybe not the most sane of Asgard, but definitely clever.

I run back through endless corridors, drawing one sword and keeping the other hand around the trigger of my gun, held out as I edge around the corner. Voices echo in the distance, along with heavy footsteps. Using the power of my magic, I visualise the other side of the corridor and see two men walking along, wearing SHIELD gear, but clearly invaders.

I jump around the corner, dropping to the floor to avoid the bullet from the first man's gun, and rolling up on to my knees, swiping my sword across the man's leg.  I take a single shot at the other guy before replacing my gun in my belt and drawing my other sword.