The Witch's Familiar

Chapter 55

No, no, this couldn't be. You'd used that spell to turn Sera back into an egg to give her a second chance. She was supposed to choose a new witch to be a familiar for. This was a second chance. She wasn't supposed to choose you again.

Not again.

You'd failed her the first time.

You couldn't stand the thought of failing her again.

You mewed and scampered back to Loki. He scooped you up into his arms and held you to his chest. "It's alright, magelet," he soothed as he held you. You mewed something incoherently in reply. Surely he realized that was Sera's egg. He had seen the egg before too. It looked identical to the day you had found it on Asgard. "Sera is here and safe,"

"The egg isn't close to hatching yet," the caretaker of the familiars informed Loki. He inclined his head regally to thank her for her help.

"See? There's plenty of time and she may yet choose another. If not, we have both learned from the past and we will not make those mistakes again," he reassured you gently. "Until then, she is safe here. You don't need to fret over her. You just need to focus on your healing," Loki explained as he held you and stroked your fur to soothe you.

"She's here. She's calling for me," you mewed at him in cat, distressed over the situation. Sera was here and was still calling for you.

"And she will still be here when you're both ready, if that's what you wish," Loki told you. "You need to heal before you can even consider trying to care for her again," his tone was firm. He had promised to take care of you while you healed. That included saving you from yourself. Stressing out over Sera wouldn't help you heal.

You knew it and yet you still couldn't force yourself to leave her.

She needed you.

She was here all alone without a witch to look after her.

Loki bopped you gently on the head, shaking you out of your thoughts while you hissed softly up at him and made a surprised 'mrow'. "Stop it. She's safe. The witches and wizards here will look after her and keep her safe. She isn't alone. You haven't abandoned her. So stop fretting," he told you firmly and turned to carry you from the room, holding you tight in his arms. You mewed softly and peeked over his shoulder at Sera's egg.

/Soon, soul sister/ Sera's voice came back to you, opening the wounds in your soul and you yowled in the pain. She remembered. She shouldn't have remembered. This was a second chance.

Loki pulled you back into his arms from his shoulder. "Come, magelet," he told you firmly and carried you from the room. Much as you loved Sera, her presence wasn't helping you heal. "We'll come see her when you're feeling better," he promised.

You had to trust that he knew best. Right now you weren't in a stable enough mental state to make such big decisions. You needed to focus on yourself and heal and you knew it.

That didn't make leaving Sera behind any easier.

Loki was stopped by one of the professors before he could leave the academy. "Mr. Loki, we're running out of a couple of potions. Do you think you and Y/N could make some more for us?" she asked with a desperation that perked your ears.

Loki looked down at you. "What do you think, magelet? Are you up to helping?" he asked you gently.

You nodded and the professor led him to an open potions lab and told you which potions they were running low on. You had a lot of fun helping Loki with the potions, batting at various ingredients, curling up on the potions book, using a bit of magic to help him stir. He laughed at your antics and scratched behind your ears as you worked together.

He got a call when you were finishing up and frowned at the phone as he answered it. "Yes, we'll be right there," he finally told the person on the other end. He used magic to finish bottling the potions and scooped you up into his arms. "Doctor Strange is requesting our assistance," he told you as he started to stride from the academy.

Even he couldn't teleport within the boundaries of the school. Nor would he break their wards to do so unless it was an absolute emergency. So whatever was going on with Strange couldn't be that bad.

Loki held you closer once he got outside the protections around the school. He wouldn't risk anything happening to you while he teleported. "You are making me into a good samaritan, darling," Loki teased as he'd spent all day helping people and doing your job without being asked or expected to do so.

You gave him a kitty-grin. "You always were a hero, Lokitty," you told him in cat.

He chuckled and you saw the light purple blush on his cheeks before he teleported the pair of you to the sanctum.

Strange was waiting in the hall to meet you.

You saw his apprehensive look at Loki, who he didn't trust in his sanctum without you as a babysitter. "Where is Y/N and what is that?"

"This is cat," Loki replied dryly, amused at Strange's predictable reaction

"That is not a cat,"