Memory

I F*cked up Big-Time

"Are you sure it was him?" I ask again.

"Yes, I'm sure," Loki snaps, grabbing the Tesseract. "On the beach."

"Fuck. So do we go now or... ?"

"Yes," he sighs.

"But people will recognize me. And you. I'm not supposed to be walking around casually like I wasn't missing for the past month." I pace around the room.

"I'll put an illusion on you. Let's go." He holds out one side of the Tesseract to me.

I've never seen him this panicked, not even in the movies.

"Where are we going?" I ask.

The look on his face tells me enough.

"I have somewhere we can go," I offer. Vaguely, I remember when I last saw Livvy, she was saying something about her parents going on some business trip "a month from now." That was a month ago.

And then there's Wade. We can go to Wade's house, but I doubt Wade and Loki will get along with each other.

That's an understatement. They will either try to kill each other or--God help me, I don't think I'll be able to handle the both of them banding together to annoy me the way I annoyed them before. Because it'll really be so much worse than I ever was. I think.

So I decide on Livvy's house. "I know where we can go."

"Where?"

"Friend's house. Her parents are away so I think we can go there without anyone, except her, knowing where we are." I shrug.

He gives me the Tesseract and I think about the location. When the cloud appears again, I grab Loki's arm right before we disappear.

And land in Livvy's living room. She falls from her sofa with a graceless "WHAT IN ALL EVERLOVING FUCKS?"

"Hello," I wave.

She storms up to me and slaps me. Hard. My head whips to the side with the force of it.

But it doesn't hurt. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" She screams. "YOU GO MISSING FOR A MONTH AND THEN CONVENIENTLY POP UP TO FIGHT ALIENS, AND DON'T EVEN DROP BY AFTER YOU DISAPPEAR AGAIN? WITH THE BITCH THAT ATTACKED THIS PLACE?"

"I'm sorry," I shrug, hopelessness suddenly overcoming me, and then numbness. I sit down heavily on her sofa. I'm dead, we're hiding from the Avengers while incredibly close to them, and I need the Tesseract to bring back my soulmate. I don't care if anyone's angry at me right now. I just--I miss Rowan so much. I--I want him back.

Then she stops, noticing I look sucky. "Are you okay? You don't look that great." Concern fills her voice.

I glance out at the city, at Stark Tower and damaged buildings in the far distance. Livvy's home was lucky enough to not have been close enough to the portal to be attacked.

I can't keep my voice from breaking. "I'm--I'm fine."

"Are you?" Loki starts.