Timeless

◈ 18 ◈

The light, as it turned out, happened to be coming from a ship hovering over our heads. With my eyes wide open, I slowly lifted my head to see the sword disappearing into thin air, leaving me with a bleeding hole where I'd inflicted a serious wound.

Thor stood up shakily from where he'd been thrown back from the force of the explosion. I took a deep breath and tried to do the same but ended up falling into him as he approached me.

"Are you alright?" He asked softly, looking both grief-stricken and slightly relieved.

I attempted to nod, but the sudden movement made me so nauseous that I threw up. Thor pulled my hair away from my face and held it back as I emptied the contents of my stomach onto the dirt.

"That's disgusting," I said, earning a laugh from him.

"At least you must be feeling better."

I shook my head as slowly as I could so as not to disrupt my upset stomach any further.

"On the contrary, actually. I feel like I got hit head-on by a ship."

"Speaking of ships, we should probably figure out who is piloting that one." He suggested, gesturing toward the small ship that had been over our heads minutes ago.

Upon closer inspection, we discovered that it was one of the winged fighter crafts identical to the one that we'd taken on our original journey to Svartalfheim.

Thor's eyes lit up as he recognized the pilots from a few yards away.

"It's Lady Sif and Fandral!" He shouted, looking like the picture of joy.

I looked down at my hand, which was covered in blood from clutching my wound. Thor grabbed my other arm and slung it over his shoulders.

"I can walk perfectly fine on my own."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think so. It's either this or I carry you the rest of the way there."

The look in his eyes told me that he certainly wasn't bluffing. I tried not to look too horrified at that prospect, but I could tell that I wasn't doing a very good job of that when he started to chuckle.

"I'm fine with this. This is good." I stammered.

I limped over to the ship with Thor at my side, leaning most of my weight on him. If I would've tried walking on my own, my legs would have given out.

"Norns, Loki. That beast really did a number on you." Sif exclaimed as we climbed into the ship.

"Actually, Loki was the one who did the most damage to himself."

I glared at Thor as Fandral turned the ship around and started flying us off.

"How else was I supposed to destroy those stones? With a pair of daggers?"

"I would've preferred that method." He mumbled.

Leaning back against the side of the ship, I grimaced and applied more pressure to my wound. It did little to stop the blood that flowed freely out of it and stained my armor. Looking down at my exposed skin, I realized that I was growing paler by the minute. I blinked, trying to make the world around me stop spinning so fast.

Without warning, I slumped over on the bench and started coughing up blood. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Fandral and Sif exchanging nervous glances.

Thor didn't bother asking my permission before taking my dagger from me and cutting off part of his cape.

"What are you doing?" I choked, spitting out the blood gathering in my mouth.

He didn't answer me. Instead, he started removing my armor and tossing it off to the side.

"I might've been unconscious when you took my armor off a few hours ago, but I thought it was quite obvious that I don't plan on letting you touch me without my permission ever again."

"Well, I'm going to have to bypass that comment before it turns into a threat because you are bleeding and need medical attention." He replied as he pulled up my tunic and frowned at the wound.

Fandral walked over and averted his gaze immediately. He'd never been one to stomach injuries very well. Sure, he could take them better than anyone I knew, besides myself, but seeing them on other people was something that made him uneasy.

"That's horrid, Loki! How did you make it to the ship without dying of blood loss?!"

I tried to shrug but immediately regretted it.

"I have regenerative healing capabilities. I'll be fine."

Sif shook her head.

"If we don't get back to Asgard fast enough, then those abilities might fail you. You've painted this ship with your own blood, and it doesn't seem to be stopping any time soon."

Thor started gently wiping away the blood surrounding the wound with the section of his cape that he'd cut off. I grimaced as the cloth got a bit too close to it, but he ended up pressing the cape into it anyway.

"Can you hold this, or do you need me to?"

With a roll of my eyes, I pushed his hand off of me and balled up the cape, pressing it against the wound.

"I can manage."

"Good. That should stop the blood flow or at least slow it down until we get back and the healers can stabilize the wound."

"Since when do you know so much about medical science?" I asked out of curiosity.

He sighed and looked down at me with what seemed to be a mixture of sadness and disappointment.

"Loki, I started studying it after you died for the second time. I had hoped that there would never again be a time when I would need to put those skills into practice, but that was merely wishful thinking."

"Why would you bother learning all of that? You didn't seem to trust me or care much about me anyway."

He shook his head.

"You have no idea how much I care about you, and I'm not the only one. If you weren't so blind to how others care about you, then perhaps you wouldn't be so reckless."

I turned the cloth inside out and pressed it against my wound again before giving him the tiniest of smiles.

"Well then maybe it's time for a change."