Chapter Seven: But You Promised

The blast sent them crashing back into Stark Tower, although Phoenix landed several floors below Loki. He had landed in the same area that they had talked to Stark before, but she had landed in an area that she assumed was made for offices that Stark would later rent out.

She flew through a window and rolled several times, landing on her back finally. With a groan, she pushed herself off the ground, trying to bring some sense back into her head that the fall had knocked out.

When she was on her feet, she gritted her teeth in pain. Something in her leg was sprained or broken, she actually wasn't sure which. It would heal eventually on its own, but she didn't have time to wait for anything like that. She wished that she could fly right now. It seemed like half of those idiots outside could fly in some way. Instead, she limped her way to the stairwell, not having the patience to wait and deal with anything like elevators.

As she ran up the stairs, she heard a commotion from where she knew that Loki was. It seemed that Banner had arrived, and he had gotten angry, from the loud stomping that she could hear.

"Enough!" She could hear the pure exasperation in Loki's voice when he screamed at Banner. "You are all of you beneath me! I am God, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by..." She didn't hear him finish, but she did hear smashing noises. Not good.

She tried moving faster, if that was at all possible. The pain in her leg was searing, though. When she found the door to the right floor, she twisted her leg as she moved to open it, causing her to scream. This was not how this day was supposed to go. This was supposed to be their day of glory.

When she got to the bar room, it was in even more disarray than before. More glass had been shattered, and the floor was covered with several craters, Loki on his back in one of them.

Staggering, she made her way to him, collapsing on the floor next to him. "Come on, Loki, get up," she gritted out, forcing herself to sit up enough to try to help him up.

She offered her hands to him and tried pulling him up, but after moving him a few inches, he screamed in pain, and she released him, setting him back on the ground. "You need to get out of here," he said to her, breathing heavily.

"What?" It actually took a second for it to click. "No! No, I'm not leaving here without you. Now help me get you the hell up!" She was trying to be calm, but her voice was coming out shrill and panicked.

She reached for him again but this time he grabbed her wrists to stop her. "I can't move right now. I think they've found a way to shut down the Tesseract." She shut her eyes and concentrated for a moment and realized that he was right. She could feel it shutting down. DAMN IT! THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THEIR DAY!

She opened her eyes and looked back down when she heard him speaking again. "I won't have both of us captured. You need to go," he said to her. "I'll get back. I swear it."

She bit down on the inside of her cheek to force back to tears she felt prickling her eyes. "You promised I wouldn't have to leave you again," she said. "You promised me!"

He pulled her down against his chest and held her for a moment while she let out a sob. She didn't want to do this, even though she knew that he was making sense. She knew that there was a better chance of her getting away as she was the one less hurt, and with one of them out, they could search for the other. She just didn't want to leave him like this!

"I'm sorry to break that promise to you," he said to her. "I won't break this promise, though." He forced her to sit up and look at him. "We will be reunited. I promise."

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down a touch. "We better," she said to him. "If you break this promise, I'll eviscerate you." Only with them could that be taken in any sort of good way. She moved up, finally pressing her lips against his and taking that kiss she had been denied for too long.

She had expected the kiss to be briefer, but he held her in place, snaking his tongue into her mouth and giving her the kiss that they both deserved right now, full of intensity and passion and promises of more as soon as they were reunited.

When they finally broke apart, she could only stare for a moment. Apparently he was called 'silver tongued' for more reason that his ability to spin words. Finally, she said, "I'll see you soon," before turning and fleeing the room. She felt like a fucking coward, but this was what Loki, her king, wanted her to do.

And his wish was her command.

She had watched from afar, hidden as all of the others found Loki as he finally was able to pull himself up. Despite the fury inside of her at watching them lord over him when they should be bowing at his feet, she couldn't help but chuckle when he asked them for a drink.

She wanted to die when she watched as Rogers roughly jerked him up off the floor, tears welling up as she saw the wince of pain on his face, taking him away to what she presumed was some cell.

She hung around long enough the next day to watch him go, being taken with his brother and the Tesseract back to Asgard. When she saw the muzzle that they had placed on him, she had nearly lost it. Even though she was still walking with a painful limp, she almost burst from her hiding place, ready to take them all on to get Loki away from them.

Somehow, Loki had known she was there.

Don't. She heard his voice say. She briefly looked around, confused, but, when she looked back at him, his eyes were trained on her, and she realized that he was talking to her telepathically.

Why not? She saw no reason to not attack them and take back what was hers now.

You're still hurt and outnumbered. Plus, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are never far. She knew that he was right. Anything that she did now would likely just result in her own incarceration. One of them still needed to be out. I'll send you a way to bring me back, and then we'll get our revenge.

She nodded, relaxing a touch to show that she wouldn't move anymore. She watched with more tears in her eyes as him and his brother left this world before moving away again. She needed to get away as far as she could, where S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't find her while she worked on a way to get him back where he belonged, with her.

Epilogue: Tantrum

Somewhere in Argentina, South America., two weeks later.

She had traveled on foot most of the way, hitchhiking the rest, so as to pop up in as few of ways as possible on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s radar. It would do her no good to escape from New York only to be caught boarding a damn plane. She ended up picking Argentina simply because the cool air of where she picked made her think of Loki.

Her new home was in the mountains. She had few possessions before her move, so she had to eventually buy all sorts of odds and ends that she needed to supply for a home. Still, she was wretchedly lonely. She had been alone for so long that she had completely blocked out what it was to be with someone, and she had never been with someone that she had considered an equal. Without Loki now, all she wanted to do was mourn.

She was doing research into ways of bringing Loki back, but, as she was a terrible novice at magic, she barely even knew where to start looking. Tonight was another night of research, and a frustrating one at that. She was on her third bottle of local made wine, something home brewed that was more potent than anyone could buy in stores. It was still barely taking edge off her frustration.

Her final book proving fruitless, she screamed in anger and hurled the bottle of alcohol at the wall, barely paying attention as it shattered and dipped down the wall and into the floor. "I'm worthless!" she yelled, pushing the books off the table she was sitting at and then lifting up the table by its edge, turning it over in a fit of rage.

Anger spent, she slumped against the wall, sliding down and hitting the floor. Right now, what she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and shut down.

The only thing that stopped her was seeing a puff of green smoke outside of the corner of her eye. She looked over as it dissipated, seeing a stack of books that had come out of nowhere, with a note on top. She reached for the note, opening it up to read.

When you're done with your tantrum, I think these might be useful.

Stay strong.

L.

She looked back at the books in shock. Not only could he see her, he could send things to her? She didn't care how it happened, it gave her heart.

She reached for the first book, opening it up. She started to smile as she read. This was exactly what she needed!

To be continued in Revenge.

(Author's note: And I leave you on a cliffhanger! Muahahaha! I'm a terrible person, I know. I already have the first part of the sequel plotted in my mind, so you won't have to wait long! I'm so happy with all of the reviews that I've gotten! This is actually quickly turning into my most reviewed story! *dances* I will go ahead and give a minor spoiler and say that Loki will be back in the first chapter, so no worries! Phoenix refuses to be parted for too long.

Till then!)