Who am I

Chapter 9

-April 3, 2015-

"Nathanial," Sophiea coughed out. "Secure the prisoner in the brig. I'm going to get changed." She stumbled towards the bathroom. Only when she heard the lock click did she remove her hand from her side.

Her stomach churned. And she tried not to throw up and scream in pain as she removed her blood covered shirt. The wound stretched along her side, just above her hip bone. She pressed a bloody hand to her lips, shaking as she tried to hold back tears.

"Ok. I can do this." She mumbled to herself. The floor shook as the plane took off. She grabbed a rag and gently wet it in the sink and pressed it to the wound. The cold water stung as she tried to clean up the mess she was making.

Gradually she sunk to the floor and fumbled to open the cupboard under the sink. Inside was all the medical bandages and ointments.

The linen gauze wrap rolled out of the basket and Sophiea grabbed it and started wrapping it around her torso.

A knock came at the door. "Hey, Sophiea, Keason is all locked up. What's taking so long? Do you need your clothes? I can go grab them if you want."

"Yeah Nat, that would be great."

"Ok, I'll be right back."

She took a deep breath and tied off the wrapping and put her bloodstained shirt in the sink, letting the water wash out the blood.

"Ok, I'm back. I just grabbed your duffle bag. Is that good? Here, open the door and I'll slide it in. I won't look I promise."

"Ok." She unlocked the door and creaked it open and the bag was thrust through and the door was pulled shut from the other side. She tugged off her pants opened the bag. The first thing on top was a simple dress. Not wanting to dig further she slid it up her body. And then she realized it had a zipper. "Oh, come on!" she opened the door and walked to where Nat was buckled in, reading a book.

"Oh, hello. You look pale. Are you ok?"

She waved him off. "I'm fine. Zip me up would ya?" She turned around and held her hair back.

"Um, sure." He began to zip up the dress, but then he saw her hurriedly done bandaging. "What is this Sophiea?"

"It's nothing, just zip me up, please."

"Oh my gosh. Did you get shot? I didn't think that he actually hit you. Oh, my goodness." Nathanial fretted.

"I'm fine. I've got everything under control."

"Does Phil know?!"

"NO!" She yelled, and then hushed her voice. "And he won't if you ever want to make it off this jet alive."

"Ok. I get it. I get it. Please don't threaten me like that."

"I'm sorry. But if Phil finds out, then he tells my family and then it's a huge mess that ends with me not being allowed out of the house."

"Do you need help cleaning anything up? I can do it, just sit here, rest. Please don't over exert yourself."

"I can do it. I don't need help." Sopheia snapped and then watched as Nathanial recoiled. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. You know what, I'm just going to leave." She turned and walked to the small sleeping room.

Lying on the small cot she thought back to Nat's face when she spoke so harshly. It broke her heart and she wanted to scream and shout and tell him she was sorry. But now was not the time.

....

"Can you see the lights?" Sophiea heard a voice whisper. It was so familiar, yet so distant. "That's our city, all the way down there. We are so close to home."

The car rumbled on a moment, and then she heard another voice, deeper than the first. "That's it? It's so-so close." The man turned to smile at the girl in the passenger seat. "And then when we reach the city, we'll start anew."

Sophiea tried to make sense of the words and the dark scene, but everything went completely black before she could. And she drifted off into a dreamless slumber.

....

She was softly shaken awake by Nathanial hours later. They were on the roof of S.HE.I.L.D.'s New York Headquarters and it was night around them. The lights of the city shone and looked like stars along the horizon.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to wake you, but I can't carry you and your bag at the same time." He whispered, looking anywhere but her eyes.

"It's ok. If any should be sorry, it's me. I was harsh and cold earlier. I regret my decisions and hope you can forgive me."

"I forgive you Sophiea. Now come along. Phil ran ahead to tell med bay to get ready to stitch you up." he shouldered her bag and started down the stairwell. "Are you coming?"

Sophiea stood on the roof, marveling at the city. "I missed this. I missed the noise and the lights and the chaos. I never thought I could miss something like that."

The young man put the bag back down on the stairs and joined her. Their clothes and hair rustled in the warm spring wind. "It is beautiful, isn't it?" She nodded, not knowing that his eyes were on her and not the gleaming of New York.

"This morning you said you wanted to talk about us?"

"Now's not the time. You are exhausted and hurt. So, we're going to patch you up and Phil is going to drive you home."

She nodded and let him lead her to the med bay.

He left with a quick promise to return after he finished getting their stuff from the jet. Yawning, she sat on the bed and watched the doctors and nurses clean her up and dress her wound properly.

As they left, she started to hum a song. She didn't know where it came from, but she knew it was important. A memory that she couldn't recall.

Her voice grew into words and a haunting melody. Each breath she took, every note she sang pushed her mind to the edge, trying to remember.

Through the wall of the small room and into the hallway her song was heard. Two figures walked down the hallway and as the first heard her song, he froze. He stopped and listened to the soft words.

"Brother. Who is that?" His voice broke, and he stopped talking, just basking in the melody. Tears welled up in his eyes, but he forced them down.

Thor's eyes widened in realization. "'Tis no one of importance. Just an agent. We must be on our way. We have to get you home before the All-Father starts to question where we are. Come on."

"No. I need to know who is singing that. Please." A lone sob escaped his mouth as he listened to forgotten song. "It was the last thing I said to Sophiea."

"You know she is dead. There is no way it could be her."

"I know. I just-just had hope for a moment." Loki looked down at his hands. "We can go now. I'm sorry for getting distracted."

Sophiea opened her eyes in shock, abruptly stopping her singing when she heard Nat's voice from behind her. "That was beautiful."

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" She laughed after regaining her breath. "That was mean."

"I'm sorry Soph. I just wanted to point out that your voice is beautiful." He smiled kindly. "Now, Keaston's on lock up. We're sending the mission report to HQ in DC. Do you need to do anything before you go home?"

"Actually, yes. I need to ask Keaston some questions."