ARCHANGEL (Marvel Fanfiction)

Chapter 18. Not Meant To Be Together

Elizabeth sat at the headquarter's lobby, watching people come and go. Today, Loki was released. She was hoping she might catch a glimpse of him walking around with his brother.

She felt this constant need to see him. Especially after Disneyland. Her heart fluttered so badly at the thought of him, it almost hurt.

Somewhere inside her she knew that Loki felt something towards her as well. His actions, his gaze.. How he tried to save her. Not only from Hydra, but also from herself.

She swayed her feet back and forth, looking around. Then, she saw that familiar black hair from the 2nd floor. Her heart throbbed.

He was with Thor, as expected. They were walking to the stair heading to the floor below, and suddenly Loki caught her eye.

She caught her breath, and smiled as she waved. She knew then what device Dr. Banner was talking about. He was wearing a metal necklace with a tiny red light in front of it.

Loki stopped his step.

"What's wrong, brother?" Thor, already one step on the stair, asked him. Loki mumbled something to him while pointing to his left, and they both walked together to that direction.

Elizabeth froze in her seat. Did he just..?

***

It had been 3 days since Elizabeth last saw Loki, even though she sat at the lobby every day. How could she not met him?

She tried going to his cell once, but he wasn't there. She tried going around the building, but she never bumped into him.

He was nowhere to be found. It seemed like he was avoiding her on purpose.

After he told her that he grew fond of her visits, after he begged her to give him a chance to fix his mistake, after.. after all they had been through in Disneyland!

She felt sudden rage raising inside her, boiling her head. She clenched her fists and stomped out of her room.

That man owed her an explanation. And it better be a good one.

She searched the building for him, and even asked the Avengers if they had seen him, which disappointingly they had not.

She headed to another sector of the building, hoping to find him there. Her foot hit the metal floor with loud thumps, indicating how angry she was.

She hoped Loki could hear that and became aware of her fury.

Suddenly a quake shook the building, stopping Elizabeth. Dust fell off the ceiling, and she looked above with caution. The building's alarm went off. The speaker said "Code one, code one. Agents, head to Sector D."

Sector D? Which one was it? She ran to find a window. She opened it and jumped out, spreaded her wings and flew higher to get a better look at the building. Then she saw where the damage happened. She dived towards it.

Some people ran out from the building, coughing and covered with dust. She stopped one of them and asked what happened.

"There were explosions. We don't know who, but someone planted bombs in there!" he choked. "I don't know if there's people still inside."

Elizabeth's heart stopped a beat before it palpitated with dangerous speed. Loki.. He was human. He didn't have his powers. If he was inside that part of the building..

She rushed inside, ignoring people's shoutings that told her not to. The building was a wreck. A big pillar fell down and dangerously rested on the edge of the remainings of the 2nd floor.

"Loki! Are you here?" she shouted, coughing from the dust. She went deeper inside the building.

She called his name again and again. Tiny pieces of rocks kept falling down.

There's no people here. She stopped moving and breathed deeply, trying to sharpen her senses to see or hear even the slightest bit of hint of trapped people.

Five seconds, six seconds passed. Not a sound, exept for the falling pebbles.

"Loki? Anyone?" There's no response.

She turned to another direction, kept on searching for survivors.

All of the sudden, Elizabeth heard something broke. She looked up to see the 2nd floor collapsed, followed by the big pillar free dived unto Elizabeth's body. She gasped and spontaneously covered her head with her hands, waiting for the impact.

Which never happened.

She opened her eyes and saw Loki standing across her, finally showed up before her. Wave of relief washed over her as she saw that he wasn't hurt and didn't wear the dampener device anymore, but the look in his eyes.. She didn't understand it.

She looked up and the pillar was turned into clouds, hanging above her.

"Loki.." she started speaking but at the same time, Loki turned his back and walk away.

"Don't you dare walk away from me again!" Elizabeth shouted with anger. Loki stopped, but didn't turn around.

"Why are you doing this?" her voice weakened. "Don't tell me I'm the only one feeling this. I know you-"

Loki turned suddenly and walked to her fast. He grabbed her shoulder and the next thing she knew, they weren't inside the building anymore.

Instead, in the midst of a Canola field. She could see mountains from afar. It was breezy, peaceful, and beautiful.

In contrast with their stormy emotions right now.

Loki released her and walked away a few steps.

"It's not possible," Loki said grimly.

"What?" She demanded, "What is?"

"Us!" he shouted, turning his body to face her. Right then, Elizabeth understood what his gaze was showing. Sorrow.

"Who said so?" she opened her arms in frustration.

"Just look at you!" He sighed, looking dispirited, "You look surreal."

Elizabeth thought for a moment about what he meant by that. Was it their differences in appearance?

"You are a god, Loki. If anyone is surreal, it's you."

"That is because you think I'm an Asgardian, is it not?" He hissed. "Well I hate to disappoint you, but turns out, I'm not."

As Elizabeth watched him, his skin slowly turned to blue, lines engraved in his face and his eyes turned red.

"This, is my real body," he said. "Terrifying? Disgusting? Oh, how you wish you could run away at this very moment, don't you?" He barked with anger, tears started to build up in his eyes.

Elizabeth looked at him silently. How very pitiful. It must be hard when he found out that he wasn't Asgard's real prince. He wasn't the real son of Asgard's king and queen, nor Thor's real brother. He must feel.. lost. Lied to. Betrayed.

A tear fell to her cheek as she slowly walked to him. She cupped his cheeks with her hands, wiping his tears. Pain emanated from his eyes.

"It doesn't matter to me," she whispered. "I still want to be with you."

Loki grasped her right hand from his cheek and kissed it. Softly, Elizabeth pulled Loki's head to her shoulder and caressed his midnight black hair, letting him lean on her until his feelings got better.