Chapter 22

*9 Months Later*

I rolled over in bed and touched the empty spot as I opened my eyes. I furrowed my brows and sat up, yawning as I looked around the room. I spotted Loki putting his suit on, a frown on his face.

"Morning." I smiled at him. He looked back at me and his angry eyes softened as he clenched his jaw.

"What's wrong?" I asked, becoming fully away now and climbing out of our bed. 

Loki and I still hadn't made it official but we did everything that a normal couple would do. We slept in the same bed every night, turned my room into a giant walk-in closet for both of our belongings, constantly hung out with one another, got jealous, had sex, and even started openly holding hands and kissing one another. But he still refused to talk about where we were going.  I didn't mind it at first but Pepper pointed out that if he really wanted me to be his, he would make an effort to at least discuss the topic of titles.

"You'd think someone who loves being called a God or Prince of Asgard would be happy to have a new title." She said. I chose to ignore it. Why ruin a good thing? It bothered me a little, sure, but what if pushing him to talk about it ruined us? I couldn't risk that.

We also made it a rule to never let our relationship interfere with Avenger business. We've kept the Avenger side of things very professional, apart from occasional sex on an alien planet for the rush of it.

"Odin visited me in my dream. He is summoning all warriors to Asgard. A war is coming." He said as he threw his head back, removing the hair from his face. I inhaled a little and quickly began to get dressed.

"What are you doing?" He asked as I pulled on my pants.

"Coming with you." I replied, pulling my sports bra on over my head and looking at him.

"No." He harshly said. I grabbed my suit top but he snatched it from my hands and furrowed his brows as he stared at me.

"Why not?" I scoffed.

"This is not your fight." He argued as he tossed my top to the side. I rolled my eyes as I walked over to it. I grabbed it and he snapped his fingers, making it disappear.

"Loki!" I angrily said as I glared at the God.

"This is not your fight." His tone was harsh and even a little scary, but I knew he would never hurt me. I knew he was just doing it to protect me.

"I'm your partner. On and off the battlefield, Loki. If you're going to war, so am I." I snapped as I held my hand out, motioning for my top.

"Not this time, Alex." He replied. He disappeared and my top appeared in my hand. I quickly put it on and flew up through the floor to Tony's living room.

"Morning. I made pancakes." Tony smiled at me but I ignored him. I spotted Loki out on the balcony and ran to him just as he called on Heimdall. The bright light blinded me and he was gone.

"Fuck." I harshly said as I ran my fingers through my hair. I was only a human, I wasn't able to summon Heimdall to me.

"Alex?" Pepper softly asked as she walked towards the balcony.

"Pancakes, T.J!" Tony happily said.

"Thor!" I yelled out.

"Fuck me then, I guess!" Tony shouted out as I flew away. I made my way to Jane's place as fast as I could and landed on the porch.

"Jane! Thor!" I yelled as I threw the door open and stormed inside.

"Back here!" Jane yelled from her bedroom. I walked through the walls and into her room to see Thor was still here but Jane had puffy red eyes. She had been crying.

"Take me with you." I ordered the God.

"I can not do that, Lady Alex." Thor shook his head no.

"Thor, take me with you! Loki needs me." I harshly replied. Jane furrowed her brows and dropped her head as she began crying again. I'm sure she was saying the same thing to Thor just as I arrived. Or something similar.

"If he needs you, why did he not take you himself?" Thor asked me. I inhaled and closed my eyes as I clenched my jaw. Loki's bad attitude was rubbing off on my, hard.

"Because he thinks he's protecting me. Ta-"

"He is." Thor interrupted me.

"Lady Alex, this..war...this war is too big to bring you in. Many of us will not return." He sternly said as he looked over to his crying girlfriend. I felt the tears swell up in my eyes just thinking about Loki not returning.

"Then let me die with him." I tried to sound tough but my voice cracked as the tears pooled over and ran down my cheeks. Thor sighed and shook his head as he backed away from me. 

"I am sorry, Lady Alex." His words were soft, almost a whisper. 

"No." I wiped the tears from my eyes and shook my head as I walked towards him.

"Do not make me do this." He desperately pleaded the closer I got to him. He threw his hammer into the air and called down a lightening strike right on me. It busted through the roof and Jane screamed as she fell back. It hit me and the energy jolted through me, causing me to tense up. He knew it wouldn't kill me. I dropped to the floor as he called on Heimdall. The light filled the room and was gone in a second. I groaned and rolled over on my back as Jane knelt down next to me. She wiped her tears away but seeing her cry, seeing her show the pain I felt pulled it out of me. I sat up and threw my arms around her as the tears poured down my face.

"They'll be okay. I know they will be." She whispered.

"They better."

*1 And A Half Years Later*

I sat on my bed and stared at my suit on the floor. 1 year after the Gods left, Fury announced that because we haven't heard from them in so long, and since they were going to war, it was clear they had been killed. He even held a funeral for Loki and Thor.

At first, I fought him on it. I knew they were still alive. They were Thor and Loki. They couldn't die. But as time went on, so did my stages of grief. I came to accept they were gone. He as gone. I fell into a depression and tried to leave the Avengers. Tony wouldn't allow that. I tried flying away but they found me. They failed to mention that the devices in my ears and eyes also have trackers in them. I contemplated taking them out but I didn't know how to and I didn't want to risk it. Things became easier over time and I eventually moved on. 

"Morning." Bucky smiled as he walked into the bedroom wearing nothing but a towel. His wet hair slicked back on his head.

I moved on with Bucky.  It made me feel terrible at first but I knew if Loki saw how Bucky treated me he would have been happy. Bucky was amazing, sweet, caring, kind, thoughtful, selfless in and out of the bedroom, protective, funny. But he wasn't Loki. I still thought about the God daily. I still wear the suit he made me. I still remember his touch. His lips. His hand in mine.

"Morning." I smiled at Bucky, throwing the thoughts of Loki out the window. I felt guilty about still having feelings for Loki when I was with Bucky, but there was nothing I could do about it. No matter how hard I tried, Loki was always the keeper of my whole heart.

"What are we doing tonight?" He asked as he dropped his towel and dug through the top drawer for a pair of boxer briefs.

"Tonight?" I asked, raising a brow.

"Yeah." He laughed as he pulled his boxers on and looked at me.

"It's our 6 month anniversary." He added.

"Oh! That's tonight!" I mentally slapped myself in the head as I stood up and picked my suit up. 

"Heartbreaking that you forgot." Bucky chuckled as he crossed his arms. I froze and looked over at him, feeling absolutely terrible for forgetting.

"I'm so sorry, I-"

"I was joking babe. I know you have a big meeting today with Tony, Fury, and the President. Lots of things going on in your pretty head." He said, smiling as he walked over to me. He kissed the top of my head and I relaxed as he pulled away.

"We should have dinner though. I'll make us something." He winked as he walked over to the closet. I put my suit on and he put his normal black attire on before pulling his hair into a bun in the center of the back of his head.

"You don't have to do that, Buck. We can just order in." I smiled at the gesture.

"Yeeaahh but I want to make something. For you." He softly replied as he put his hands on my hips and smiled down at me. I leaned forward and kissed him and he smiled before kissing me back. I did like Bucky, the feelings were there. But it was nothing when compared to how I felt for Loki.

"If you insiiiist." I sang as I pulled away. Bucky bit his bottom lip as he let me go and then smiled before following me out to the living room. 

"Do you know what your meeting is about?" He asked as he grabbed a muffin from the basket on the counter. I raised a brow and examined the card, seeing it was from Pepper. She randomly sends me baskets of baked goods and I love her for it. I grabbed a muffin and shrugged as I pealed the outer paper off.

"Not a clue. Tony just said it was important." I added.

"How important is it really though if he's making you wait until noon to meet up?" Bucky laughed.

"President is probably busy sucking off his security guards or something." I laughed. Bucky cringed his nose at the thought of that but laughed as he walked over to the elevator.

"I gotta meet up with Sam today. Him and Steve found yet another Hydra member hiding out in Alaska. Apparently hiding in the same bunker Hitler was hiding  out in all these years. The guy's been doing experiments on dogs or some shit." Bucky said with a mouthful of muffin.

"Good luck with that." I shook my head in disgust. Bucky swallowed his food and wiped his mouth off before puckering his lips and kissing the air.

"See ya." He smiled. I blew him a kiss and waved bye as he got on the elevator and left the room. I sighed and closed my eyes as I set the muffin down on the counter. I walked over to the fridge and grabbed a glass from the cupboard to my left and filled it up with cold water. I took a small sip and a bright light flashed behind me. I furrowed my brows and spun around to see what the hell that was. 

"Hello." Loki smirked at me. Time froze for me. I gasped and my eyes went wide as I released my hand, my glass fell to the floor, shattering upon impact. I felt my heart jump into my throat and stomach at the same time and covered my mouth with my other hand as the tears began to pool up in my eyes. I couldn't believe he was standing here. Looking exactly how he left. My Loki.

The elevator doors opened back up and Bucky walked in, his eyes on the floor as he laughed and shook his head.

"Hey babe. I'm gonna need another muffin for the road. They were so goo-" He looked up and froze midstride. Loki's harsh eyes snapped on Bucky and so did mine. Bucky raised his brows in surprise as he looked at Loki, the God we assumed to be dead for the past year and a half.

"Babe?" Loki harshly asked as he looked back at me. His bright, beautiful green eyes digging into my soul.

"Um-"

"Are you involved with this human??" Loki scoffed as he crossed his arms. 

"No." I quickly said. I closed my eyes tight and opened them as I looked at Bucky, who had a confused brow raised.

"What?" He asked.

"Yes. Yes! We're dating." I corrected myself as I looked at Loki. 

"Dating??" Loki laughed once as he looked over at Bucky, who had his arms crossed and was leaning on his right leg at this point.

"Yeah. Dating. I know that's a foreign thing to you, probably hard to understand and all. But Bucky is my boyfriend." I harshly replied. The excitement and shock of him being here was soon replaced with anger. Anger at how angry he seems that i was with Bucky. And then having the nerve to laugh at us, like we were a joke to him.

"What's so funny?" Bucky asked Loki. I closed my eyes and exhaled hard, knowing he just started some shit. I opened my eyes and Loki was staring at Bucky with pure hatred in his eyes.

"I just find it amusing that Alex moved on so quickly." Loki harshly responded as he glared back at me. 

"Moved on??" I scoffed.

"We were never dating, Loki. You never wanted to make it official! You were happy with just fucking me like some whore! You never cared about me, let's be real here!" I screamed at the God. He narrowed his eyes at me and Bucky straightened up, watching us. I felt so much anger towards Loki right now. I couldn't believe he was acting like this. He never wanted to be official with me, to call me his girlfriend but has the audacity to attack me when I finally do get a boyfriend? After thinking he's been dead all this time.

The devices in our pockets began to go off. The tears clouded my eyes as I pulled it from my pocket and read the flashing message. I was so thankful they needed me now. I didn't want to be here anymore.

"Alex and Tony to the Hellicarrier immediately." I put the device back in my pocket and looked at Loki, who was slightly less tense now. His green eyes still locked on me.

"And I didn't move on quickly you asshole. I was depressed for a year. Crying over you every single fucking night. Never getting any sleep because as soon as my eyes closed all I saw as yours." I harshly said, wiping the tears from my face. I flew up and out of the living room, hoping whatever this meeting was about would distract me from this mess.

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