Merciful [A Loki Fanfiction]

Epilogue

Merciful
Epilogue
...

Last Chapter:

It was not just a bunch of fancy words, as Petrovitch noticed when my hand began glowing green. He shook his head in fear, but I gave no notice, pressing my hand to his head and completing the curse.

Now:

Loki

Jaida had not woken yet by the next morning. I assumed she had not slept the night before, so I let her rest, but there were now only four days left. I cared for her. There was not a doubt about it. She was the first person I had been comfortable enough around to actually open up. She knew things about me that no one else did, and Jaida obviously felt the same after last night.

In four days, Jaida would be required to return to S.H.I.E.L.D., and I would be required to return to Asgard. We would never be allowed to see each other again, restricted by the laws of our two worlds. Of course, I was not one to follow rules, but I did not know how far Odin would go to keep me there, nor when I would next see Jaida. I intended to make the most of the next few days, and perhaps allow her to temporarily forget about her traumatizing past.

When Jaida finally did awake, I was sitting smugly in an armchair, perfectly pleased with what I had planned.

"What?" she asked cautiously, referring to my smirk. "What did you do?"

"I have plans," I said conversationally. "I was hoping you would come along."
...

Skating had been a fun pastime of mine as a child on Asgard. Even as I grew older, I would enjoy going out onto the ice. Occasionally my mother would come with me, a time that we would be able to spend alone. Jaida also seemed to enjoy it, and I caught myself watching her glide elegantly over the surface more than once, ignoring the other mortals.

"What are looking at?" she asked, catching me at one point.

"Nothing," I said casually. "You look like you are enjoying this."

She smiled, slowing so that we were slowly circling the rink. "I am. It's been a long time since I've done something carefree."

"How long is a long time?" I asked, knowing that I would not like the answer.

Jaida furrowed her eyebrows. "It was with Natasha, when she was my S.O., my supervising officer, we went out to some bars in Russia. It was... interesting, to say the least. That was nearly twenty years ago."

"So quite a while," I whispered, before grinning. "Well. You have a lot to catch up on, and only three days now to do so. I guess we will be waking up early tomorrow!"
...

Jaida

Skating was cute, and the zoo, which was the next day, was hilarious, but when Loki wanted to go see some Broadway thing, I put my foot down.

"No, no, no," I said, grinning at Loki from across the table. He set down his breakfast, an apple, in confusion.

"Why not?"

I rolled my eyes. "Because I see what you're doing here, Lokes, and it's cute and all, but I'm not going to fall into depression or something if I'm slightly inactive. We are doing something else today."

"And what is that?" Loki asked suspiciously.

"You'll see," I said vaguely, waving a hand.
...

By the time we had even left my house, it was eleven. I had convinced Loki to sit down and watch some TV for a bit, which was actually extremely entertaining.

Apparently they didn't have television in Asgard.

When we reached the place that I had planned for lunch, Loki scowled.

"You must be kidding," he said in a whiny tone.

"Nope," I replied mischievously. "Not one bit. I mean, you never got any, so...."

Loki reluctantly stomped in the door with me, grabbing the attention of several shawarma customers who soon looked away from his cool gaze.

"Table for two, please," I asked of the waitress, and she nodded, leading us to a window seat. I gave her our orders, knowing Loki wouldn't know what to get, and smiled at the grumpy god.

"Having fun yet?" I asked jokingly.

"Quite," he said with a raised eyebrow. "Why did you wish to come here?"

"Look outside, Loki," I said, not responding directly. "What do you see?"

"I see mortals rushing about their lives."

I slapped his arm lightly. "Look closer. Come on, I know you aren't shallow."

Loki sighed and gazed out of the window for a few minutes. "I still don't get it."

"First of all, those are people. We don't call them mortals, that's rude. And, okay, yeah, you're sorta right, they're rushing about their lives, but there's more to it. Look, they don't have a care in the world. They could die, at any moment, and many of them realized that during the Chitauri attack. Look, they don't even seem to remember it. They're just running around, living life. Every day, I'm fighting battles and preventing wars. Every day, every single life here could end at my fault, but they don't care. They may realize it, but they move on. They enjoy themselves, and live their lives. That's possible because of S.H.I.E.L.D., and I'm part of that. So, no, I'm not going to shut down just because my sisters turned their backs on me. I did my job, and it saved these innocent, carefree people."

Loki stared at me, head turned slightly to the side, and I was suddenly reminded of a curious puppy. I stifled a laugh as a smile slowly spread across Loki's face.

"I see it now," he whispered, reaching across the table to push a strand of hair behind my ear. "I understand."
...

It was amazing how quickly five days could pass. Before I knew it, Thor, Loki, and I stood at the edge of the S.H.I.E.L.D. base, the sun peeking over the horizon.

"So," I said quietly. "Goodbye, then?"

Loki surprised me, cupping my face in his hands and gently kissing me.

"Maybe," he said vaguely, pulling away as his brother cleared his throat. He smirked slightly, grabbing my hand and pressing something into it. I frowned, and pulled it up to see, but he shook his head, stepping back to join Thor.

Thor lifted his hammer, preparing to call Heimdall, when there was a flash. It wasn't like a camera flash, no, this was the all-around-the-world type of flash. I immediately looked up into the sky for the source of the light, eyes widening as I watched what appeared to be a meteor crashing to the earth. Finally, it landed, a balloon of dust exploding from the landing spot. A large, familiar form rose from the falling spot.

That was Asgardian technology. That was a Destroyer.
...

A/N: Bum, bum, BUM!!! The end! No, no kidding! It's been awesome and all, but I don't want to draw it out. However, there will be a sequel called Infinity, and I have three other fics up right now, two in progress! I love you all, vote and review please!

P.S.: Infinity will not be up for a while, as I want to work on my other fics, but if you are following this story, I will be sure to put up a note when Infinity is posted!