Loki's Daughter

Part 23

The  sound of Valarie's laughter wakes me up. I sit up on the couch and realize I'm in the lounge room of Valarie's home. Valarie, her father and Alec enter. Val sees me and smiles gently at me.

'Where have you been? After that storm I didn't know what to think,' Loki says while stomping over to them. I bit my lip as pain begins to throb through me. I wrap a hand around my stomach slowly. Unnoticeable to everyone but Loki. He doesn't move. Doesn't say anything aloud.

It's sore isn't it?

I just want to sleep, it feels like it burns.

You can sleep soon.

'We got lost. We couldn't find our way back. Luckily Alec was around.' Valarie looks at Alec and smiles playfully at him. He doesn't budge. Her eyebrows rise than she rolls her eyes. She glances at her father and a smile creeps onto her face.

'Valarie don't,' Thor warns.

Valarie tries to put on a serious face. 'Go for a shower and warm up,' Thor nods and leave the room, 'So I can bitch behind your back,' and Valarie laughs. 'You should have heard his scream. It was higher pitched than a school girls scream,' Valarie gasps out.

'I know right. It honestly scares the hell out of me,' Loki replies amused. Valarie wipes tears out of her eyes and looks at Alec. See I'm nothing but a burden on her. She no longer needs me or wants me. She has everything she's every wanted. A father who loves her but she can boss around. A guy who...well I don't really know at the moment...but I can tell that Valarie is still madly in love with him by the amount of time she spends searching the room for him and his approval. And an uncle who she can just be relaxed and have fun around. I stand up quietly and slip out of the room and into mine. I turn the lights off and drop onto my bed. I wait a few minutes but no one enters. I fall asleep.

Water drips onto my face.

'What the hell?' I asked tiredly as I sit up quickly brushing water off my face.

'Get up! I'm bored!' Valarie wines as she leaves the room.

'Valarie!' I yell out after her, gritting my teeth through the pain God, she acts like such a child. I contemplate going back to sleep but now I'm awake there's not a single chance.

I enter the kitchen as Valarie turns around and faces me. I rub my eyes to get the sleep out. Someone grabs my hands and push them away from my face. Valarie looks down at her hands and I glance down. Her fingers wrap around my wrists.

'Ray, you need to eat. Let me make breakfast.'

'I'm fine,' I insist even as my stomach growls filling me with pain. She lets go of my wrists and directs me onto a bar stool. I watch silently as she moves around the kitchen and within a few minutes the kitchen smells of eggs, bacon and pancakes. At first, I'm fine with the smell but as minutes past bile rises in my throat. Valarie turns around and puts a small plate of bacon, an egg and two pancakes in front of me. I sigh in relief.

'You're not leaving here until you've eaten half of what's on your plate,' she looks up as two people enter. I take a pancake and pinch a small piece off and put it in my mouth. I spin around and see Thor looking at me and back to his brother.

'Good idea Valarie. We'll get these two eating normally in no time.'

Loki looks at me horrified. I swallow the food and laugh with Val.

A few minutes later, Loki has a plate with double the amount of food I have while the other three have even more. I've finished a pancake and eaten half the bacon. I refuse to touch the egg despite Valarie trying different ways to get me to it.

'Ray just eat the damn egg. It's not going to make you sick,' Val snaps.

Loki looks at me and sees me smirking a little.

'Uh Ray just try a little,' Loki encourages.

I stop smirking and take a nibble of the egg. I don't feel any worse so I take a mouthful. Swallow. Repeat. Ah. There's the illness. I stand up, the stool falls to the floor. I race to the bathroom and just make it to the toilet. Once I'm finished, I stand up, flush it and wash my face and hands. In the mirror I see Val standing there inspecting the bathroom and me.

'At lease you made it to the toilet,' she sighs as she turns the shower taps on. I rest my forehead against the cool basin.

'So much for egg not making me sick,' I try to grin but it comes out as a grimace.

She moves next to me and leads me over to the shower. She opens the door and shoves me in under the water with clothes on.

'I don't get it. Why are you so sick? You haven't done anything big for a while.'

I close my eyes and lower my head. Letting the water run over me. Loki...don't feel...well.

'Girls? Are you alright in there?'

I turn my head towards the voice. Valarie looks at me than at the door.

'Just give us a few more minutes,' Valarie yells back.

I feel the room changing density as someone teleports and I only just manage to hold myself up. The moment Loki arrives in the bathroom, flings open the shower door despite Valarie's protests and reaches out for me; I collapse into his arms.

I'm picked up and moved. Sometime later I'm placed into a bath of cold water and what feels like ice cubes. My teeth chatter but the coldness helps revive me enough so I'm conscious of what's happening.

'What is wrong with her? Why is she so sick?'

'Has she ever been like this before?'

Silence.

'Valarie! I said has she ever been like this before?'

'No...no. Never.'

'Do you know if she was taking some sort of drugs or anything?'

'No.'

'Has she ever disappeared randomly while hanging around you?'

'No...I don't know...I've never really paid much attention...what's wrong with her?'

'I don't know Valarie...I don't know.'

'Valarie did you want to call SHIELD?' a deeper voice asks.

'Dad they've been shut down for some time now. I don't know how long ago but they've been closed for a while.'

'What about the Avengers?'

'Oh wait. Tony. He can help.'

'Fuck...him,' I gasp out.

'Shh,' Loki whispers.

My hand clenches and I hit the water. I don't get a successful thud. All I get is a splash of water that leaves me angrier.

'Ray!' someone yelps.

Someone else grabs a firm hold of my shoulders and push me backwards into the back surface of the bath. An arm wraps around my neck and shoulders while another grabs something cold and presses it against my neck. I shy away at first but I calm down as I feel icy water trickling down my neck. It's only an ice cube.

'Ray you're going to be fine. Trust us and let us get you help,' Valarie tells me.

'Trust?' I manage a small smirk before collapsing.

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*Edited*