Redamancy

Chapter 33

Loki POV

As soon as Eloise was out of sight he turned to Thor, "Alright let's go." He turned and he and Thor appeared out in a desert near an observatory.  Jane excitedly ran out to meet Thor and Loki nodded, making polite conversation for as long as he felt he could before excusing himself before he snapped.  He spent most of the two days away from Thor and Jane as it made him painfully aware of missing Eloise.  He continued his research into her origins, he was finding nothing concrete except one theory that he was sure wasn't possible. 

He was surprised that she didn't reach out again thru her thoughts, which worried him. But she had promised she would if she needed him and he could sense physically she was fine.
It was in the middle of the night when the cellphone she had given him began to make noise disturbing his reading. He finally figured out how to open it and snapped "WHAT?" into the phone.

"You need to get here now. Somethings wrong."

Eloise POV

Eloise stood at the edge of the shimmering pool. "Soooooo I just swim around till I hear something?" She asked, looking over at Avery who was leaning against a tree. He nodded, "Aye, your magic will guide you." She nodded and then walked forward into the water. It was cold and stung her legs. She didn't feel anything but stupid and cold at the moment.  "Relax mo leanbh, feel for it with your magic." He called watching her. She nodded and swam out farther and put her arms in the water and let her magic loose.  She felt a pull towards the center of the lake, she could no longer feel the bottom of the lake but swam till she felt she was right above the pull. She took a deep breath and dove back into the water kicking her way to the bottom. She floated on the bottom, feeling along all the crystals. Her hand paused over one, she yanked on it, beginning to run out of air so she gave one last tug before it came free and she kicked back up and broke the surface.  She slowly swam back to where Avery was watching her. He held his hand out when she reached land, and as she held out the crystal it broke in half.

"Fascinating " he breathed looking at both crystals. She finally looked one was white, almost a cylinder, and the other was rough and dark. "What does it mean?" She asked worried. "It means we still have a puzzle on our hands. It seems that you and your child are connected and you picked for both of you so when you choose yours, your daughter will have the opposite magic." He hugged her again, pride coming thru his voice. "Come, time grows short, we must return you to the fairy pool so you may go back to Loki." "I can just magic us if that would be quicker." She transported them both without asking. He laughed, "Mo leanbh, I am so proud of you, what a woman you have grown into." He kissed her forehead and lead her to the fairy pool. "You must go now. Be safe mo leanbh." And with that he threw her into the pool.

She tried to reach the surface but she was caught off guard when she was thrown in the water and she took in a bunch of water, she also was weighted down, her hands holding her crystals and her staff. She finally broke the surface to feel a metal arm grab her arm and haul her to the edge of the water. "Where in the hell did you come from?!" Bucky yelled at her as she coughed up all the water. Finally after 15 minutes she collapsed on her side, shivering violently. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Her voice was raspy and she was quickly loosing concousiousness.  "Shit doll, don't do this. Come on stay with me." Bucky's arms wrapped around her. She struggled to remain concousiousness, "Call Loki now." Then she blacked out.

Time meant nothing, she felt like she is simtaniously being burned alive and drowned. Her eyes were shut to the world, every once in a while she hears snatches of conversations, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let her go off on her own." "Pneumonia in both lungs, we're doing everything we can." "If she dies, it is on you." "What was she doing there?" "I don't know she came out of the water clutching the stick and the rocks. She damn near fought me when I tired to leave them." "Her fever is too high, pack her in ICE NOW!"

Finally after 6 days, she opened her eyes only to shut them again cause the light was too harsh. Eloise cautiously shaded her eyes, trying to open them again. Everything was blurry and spinning.  She felt something blissfully cool turn her face, "Darling? Are you awake?" Loki. She leaned her face into what ever is cool anything to make the burning stop. I'm here darling  she felt his thoughts touch hers, he's scared why are you scared?  She tried to listen for his answer but she fell back asleep. 

She woke again a little while later, feeling cooler, when she tried to lift her head she realized she's wrapped in blankets of ice. Eloise leaned her head back, her eyes half open she realized Thor was asleep in the chair next to her. Hearing a noise behind her, Bruce came into view, "Nice to see a familiar face," she croaked at him, her throat was sore and her voice unused. "Kid it is so good to see you back in the land of the living." He squeezes her hand for reassurance. "Did it get kinda touch and go there for a while?" She asked, thinking back to feeling the fire. "I wouldn't even declare you out of the woods yet. You still have a temperature of 104.8, you are barely breathing enough to be without oxygen. Hang in there kid, I'm gonna go get Loki.  Thor made him leave to go eat, but I promised I'd come get him if you woke up." "Nice to see you getting along together though."

She decided while Bruce had left her alone, sleeping Thor non withstanding, she would try to use her magic, within seconds she felt like she could take a proper deep breath and she felt her fever break.  By the time Loki came back into the room she was throwing off the ice packs and attempting to pull out the IV. "Eloise, you are in such deep trouble with me you lay back down this instant and stop trying to pull out your IV or so help me I will make you. " he growled at her, "Loki I'm fine, look I'm awake now I can heal myself," Loki pushed her back down on to the bed, checking her over. "Stay." Bruce came back into the room and started checking her monitors, "This doesn't make any sense, how are your numbers improving this rapidly?" Eloise held up her hands, making a small but very pretty shower of green sparkles, "I'll give you a hint," she said playfully, pushing into a sitting position.  "Now if you don't mind, may I please have a shower I feel incredibly gross?" She asked Bruce as Loki tried to push her back down, "Loki I swear to God, stop it or I'll vanish and just take myself to the shower.", she argued back and forth with him for a few moments, til she felt something snap onto to her wrists. She glared at him, holding up the chains again, "Ohhhhhhh you are so screwed!"

By this time Thor had woken up from the commotion, "Sister! You are awake!" He crushed her to him in a rib cracking hug, while Loki glared at her, "Thor tell your brother to let me up, or you are the one who gets to clean him up when I'm done with him." "Sister... maybe you had better rest a moment." "Ok thats it." She turned and brought the chains down hard, her magic turning them to dust, and then she vanished, reappearing in her shower. She knew she had at best maybe a few minutes before Loki showed up and tried to drag her back, so she quickly stripped and turned on the shower, feeling she could at least delay him long enough to have a shower. She felt shaky standing on her own but the water felt heavenly against her skin. She felt someone watching her, "Loki, you have a choice right now, choice 1, you let me have my shower and I promise to go lay down and rest afterwards and you can nanny goat me to your hearts content, within reason, or choice 2, you can take a nap, right here on the floor. Pick." She said glaring at him from under the water, her hands glowing.

"Eloise, I've just watched you on the be on the brink of death for the past 6 days, after getting called that the other super soldier pulled you out of a random pool of water in Scotland when you weren't there moments before you, you just turned the corner this morning, I think I am entitled to being at least a little concerned about you, I mean look at you, you are shaking like a leaf just standing." His voice was strainers, like he was trying not to yell at her. She looked down, damn he was right. "Look," she said steadying herself, "You are right, but I would appreciate it if you would listen to me rather than ignore me and treat me like a child. Now stop being pushy and help me into bed and I'll tell you what I have been up to." He nodded. Next thing she knew she was dressed in soft pajamas and wrapped up in bed with Bruce checking her over, "I promise I'm fine now, I just need a little bit more rest and I'll be right as rain." She said with a smile, feeling sleepy. Bruce looked at Loki, "she's right, she's healing incredibly fast even for her. She might be hungry, I'll send up some broth for you to see if she's interested, otherwise I'll stop back by in a little bit." "Thanks Bruce your the best..." Eloise murmured sleepily.  She closed her eyes, her energy spent. Loki?  She reached out, I'm cold, she sent him an imagine of him cuddling her as she slept, she felt the bed shift and his arms wrapped around her. Don't think for one minute this gets you out of trouble.  She laughed softly.  Let me have a nap and then I'll be right there with you babe.