Loki and the Witchling

Chapter 28

 You spent the entirety of the next day getting your ass chewed for letting Loki go. He was still a war criminal and was only not in jail because of Stark's tech and his work with the team. The only person who didn't yell was Thor. He knew what you did and why.

You listened to Cap's and Tony's tirade in silence, accepting the lecture for your decision.

"Y/N, why did you do this?" Cap finally asked, gentling his tone when you hadn't responded at all to his massive lecture. He was going into 'I'm not angry, just disappointed' mode.

You looked up at him with angry determination in your eyes. "It was the right thing to do," you told him firmly. "Rules be damned, it was the right thing to do, Cap. Keeping him prisoner here wasn't right. He's done nothing except help the team since he's been here,"

"Until yesterday when you brought him home in chains," Tony reminded you.

"That was the right decision too. Getting him away from the people who hurt him and messed with his mind was the right thing to do despite how I had to go about it," you answered more softly. Your instinct was still not to argue for fear of being kicked from another family.

"And now he's gone! Doing who knows what!" Tony shouted. You looked down at your lap, prepared to let him get back to his tirade. They'd already been going at you for hours.

"Enough!" Thor stepped in front of you, pushing Tony and Cap back from where they had been standing over you, yelling. He turned to you then and knelt in front of your interrogation chair so he was at eye-level with you. "You saw the future yesterday, little sister. Was this the future you saw?" he asked gently. You were going to have to ask him why he'd changed his term of address for you, but that was a problem for a different day.

"I saw all of the possible futures surrounding the outcome of our trip to Asgard," you told him softly.

He nodded. "And this was the best path?" He had gentled his voice even more. You hesitated, you couldn't explain what you'd seen. "You do not have to say what you saw." He must've seen that particular hesitation before, probably from Frigga. "Just answer this: was this the best choice for everyone, based on what you saw?"

"It was," you answered softly with a nod to cement your words.

Thor nodded once, stood, and pulled you to your feet. "Return to your chambers. I will deal with the others. They will not turn you out over this, put that thought from your mind," he added when you hesitated. He knew you too well.

"Thank you," you told Thor, grateful that he was saving you. You ran for the safety of your suite before Cap and Tony could get past Thor to try to stop you.

Thor came up with dinner for you awhile later while you were sharpening daggers in your living room. He knocked politely on the door to your suite and you felt bad for answering with a dagger in your hand. You vanished the dagger back to stack on the coffee table sheepishly when you realized who it was. "Sorry," you murmured and stepped back from the door to let him in.

"I brought you dinner,"

"Thanks," you replied, taking the plate from him.

"I have convinced them that this was the best decision. I would still recommend spending the evening away from them. They are still upset. They are going to try to hide Loki's absence from SHIELD for as long as they can. Let us hope he returns before SHIELD finds out,"

"I hope so too," you told him. "Thank you for helping me. You didn't have to, especially since I did let Loki 'escape',"

"Will he choose to return?" Thor asked gently. You wouldn't have told him about the future. You knew instinctively not to overshare what you'd seen, but this was about his brother. He deserved answers. He had also vouched for you because of the visions. He really deserved answers.