My Sweet Flame

Chapter 36. Been There, Done That, Bad Idea

My eyes slowly blinked open, then squinted shut at the bright light that greeted me. I groaned softly at the searing pain going through my head as I slowly began to feel my legs and fingers and every inch of my body that ached. I realized how much warmer my right hand was than my left and slowly, painfully turned my head to the person holding it. I slowly blinked my eyes open, still attempting to adjust to the light.

It was Thor. He had my hand in both of his with his forehead resting on his top hand. I squeezed his hand a little bit to get his attention. He looked up.

"You're awake." He smiled softly.

I attempted to nod and slowly stretched my jaw. It hurt...more like ached....like it was sore.

"The hell happened?" I whispered hoarsely. The memories slowly flooded back into my head as he spoke.

"You were under the control of the scepter, Y/N. You should rest."

"Never mind." I groaned, "I remember everything."

"Loki called for help after you fell unconscious. He knew it wasn't you."

"Can't imagine why." I whispered, my voice still hoarse. "How long was I out?"

"Almost six hours." Thor frowned, "Loki wanted to see you an hour or so ago. He wanted to know that you were alright."

"And what did you tell...." My voice trailed off. The words weren't coming. Clearly, my voice was finished for a while.

"I assured him that you were going to be well taken care of, Y/N." I nodded as he continued, "Agent Romanoff has spoken with him and found that he means to disrupt Banner's calm demeanor and unleash the monster within him."

I looked up at him in horror, "Then he is a monster." I tried to say. Again, the words didn't come.

Don't say something like that. We both know that he isn't a monster. If you remember, his eyes weren't their natural color either.

They were sea green.....

Yeah. Hence, he may not be doing all of this on his own.

Why can't I talk?

I shut your voice box down for a hot minute so you could cool down for a while. We don't want to say anything we don't mean.

Of course. Thanks man, actually that's a really good idea.

Of course it is, I got you.

Could you boot it back up though, because I need to be able to say that I wanna shove liquids down my throat.

I waited a minute and fought the almost overwhelming pain searing through my head, threatening to pull me from consciousness once again.

"Thor...." I croaked softly, "Can I get something to drink? I'm thirsty."

"Y/N...." Thor sighed, "I'm afraid I don't think I could bring Loki from his prison, let alone up to this room."

"That's not what I meant dipshit. Can I have some water?"

He nodded, smiling at his own joke as he stood and left the room.

I slowly craned my head and took in the surroundings of the room. I was lying on a white bed in a small room with dark, gray, patterned walls. The lights on the ceiling were white and blinding at that. I put my arms behind me in the middle of my back and slowly pushed myself up. I started to get dizzy before I was even sitting halfway-up and lowered myself again.

Damn Loki, what did you do?

After fighting the urge to lose consciousness and seemingly coming to my senses a little bit, I tried again to sit up. After several tries and a lot of dizziness, I managed to come to an almost all-the-way-up sitting position slumped against the wall.

I sat for a few minutes, not caring of what time it was or how I probably looked. Soon, I heard footsteps in the hall and Thor stepped in the room with a clear plastic cup full of water. He held it out to me and my weak, shaking hand slowly took it from him.

"Thanks." I muttered between sips.

"Of course." He smiled softly, "Your very welcome."

He sat down beside me. After a few minutes of silence, he spoke quietly, "Y/N, Why do you think he's doing this."

"I don't know..." I said, my voice better but still hoarse, "Whatever he's doing," I croaked, "He certainly doesn't want me under the control of the scepter."

"I understand." Thor sighed, "He would not want you under his control for other reasons besides not wanting you to know what he was doing, Y/N. He loves you."

"I know. And I love him, but not like this."

Thor looked at me confused.

"Not when he's terrorizing cities and killing innocent people. This isn't like him, he wouldn't go this far. Okay, maybe it is like him a little bit, but be rational, Thor. He would never do something like this. Someone must have corrupted his mind."

"You May be right, Y/N," He paused, "But then again, you may not be."

"I know I am Thor," I sat forward, "This can't be all him."

I slowly made a move to stand up, handing him the empty cup. Everything felt slightly sore, but now it was mostly contained to my head. As I stood, I realized I wasn't wearing shoes.

Thank god. Heels might've made that really embarrassing.

You're telling me.