innocence
"All i'm saying is, if he would just let me go through his mind, we could clear up his name" she sighed as she walked with his friend, "your brother is being unreasonable, i'm trying to help you by helping him, but he's not really cooperating" she said apologetically to the taller man to her side
"You wouldn't let anyone go through your mind either, Lolite"
"Yes, but i'm not currently residing in a world which i am believed to have tried to take over, living with the very same team I fought and traumatised"
"Talking about me are we?" a voice said from behind them as they made their way to the training rooms
"Thor, are you hearing something?" she mocked calmly not glancing towards the voice
"Very funny, very mature" he snarled, "tell me, Odinson, does she follow you around everywhere? Your pet?" he chuckled proudly when that made her turn around
"Loki" Thor warned halfheartedly
"Oh, it's no use defending her, such a pesky little thing" he tsked, "I gotta say, brother, nice catch" he said, moving past the woman. He felt the air shift behind him slightly and he turned around just in time to stop a knife from slicing his throat
"You really don't wanna do that"
"Trust me, I really do" she smiled menacingly, before walking towards him again, dagger in hand, and magic twirling around her fingers
"Brother, Cora, just..." Thor started, but seeing as they had already started hand to hand combat, he just trailed off to himself "stop"
The two sorcerers started going back and forth neither of them being able to land a punch, somehow they ended up perfectly situated in the middle of the training room
"You really should practice a bit more before trying to take on an asgardian warrior" he said after once again catching her fist, "maybe that way you'd actually draw some blood"
She retaliated only by smirking as her foot met the back of his knees making him falter long enough for her to throw an energy ball at his chest
"Low blow" he spat, quickly rushing to his feet with now a dagger on each hand, "to be expected from a low being", he said before twelve more Loki's materialised sorrounding Cora, the real prince hidden amongst them
"Think fast. mortal"
Cora closed her eyes for a fraction of a second, as all of them launched at her, she opened them and striked a direct blow to an specific clone, as soon as her sword sliced his cheek, the rest of the illusions disappeared. and left was a disgruntled Friggason holding his hand against his face in pain and disbelief
"Not so chatty, huh?" she finally said, quickly throwing her legs around his neck and bringing him to the ground in a straddle, she used her magic to immobilize him, "i'm not sorry for what i'm about to do"
She saw panic flash through his eyes, but she had already moved her hands to his temples. She regreted it instantly, she saw a hundred different memories, she saw blood, saw the mind stone, saw Thanos, heard Thanos, he wasn't speaking to her, she was seeing it all from Loki's perspective.
But the worst thing was the pain that came with the memories, next thing she saw was snippets of the battle of New york, she saw disaster, she felt helpless, she felt so, so, incredibly helpless, she wanted it to stop. He wanted it to stop.
She gasped for air and when her eyes opened again, she was being held back by Thor, meanwhile Loki stayed on the ground in pure shock
"I was right" she mumbled, she felt sick, "Thor, put- Put me down!" she yelled
The raiven haired god saw as she slowly made her way to him, how dare she? Look at him with such pity? Such sympathy. This woman absolutely revolted him.
She grabbed his hands and he tried to break free from her hold. "You got what you wanted, now leave me alone" he said dangerously low, she didn't seem faced by the comment, better said, the threat.
Her hands once again glowed lilac and the next second the magical restraints around his wrists were gone, Loki's whole face seemed to recover colour, and without even realising it he let out a sigh of relief , which did not go unnoticed by either the woman or the blonde god
The second that was done, she turned around to walk out of that room, her mind not having yet recovered from the whirlwind of such heavy emotions, she'd almost made it out when she felt a sharp pain on her back, a forest green dagger impaled on her back, she chuckled drily, pulled it out and pocketed it away. Her eyes made their way to the god, who tried his best to conceal his own cyclone of emotions, she shook her head and smiled, seemingly composed, then simply walked out
- - -
A knock on the door pulled her out of her daydreaming, silently sending a wisp of magic to open the door, she let whoever was outside in
"Hey, Miss Cora, are you doing okay?"
"What did i tell you about the miss thing?"
"Sorry, uhm, are you... Should i leave?" Peter asked awakwardly standing by the doorfram, his feet balancing from left to right
"No, sorry, what's wrong? You need me for something?" she asked, turning to face the boy properly and give her his attention
"Mr. Stark actually asked me to come and get you, he didn't sound very happy" he said, absentmindedly moving to tinker with the stuff in Cora's desk
"Oh, right, I kind of went rogue this morning and freed our prisoner of his shackles" she said with a grimace
Peter grimaced as well, but seemed to think for a second before speaking, "I walked into him after lunch, he seemed more..." he trailed off, "I just know he seemed different, for the better, he even said hello to Wanda and I"
"Congrats, Pete, you might have made an ally out of the god of mischief" she sighed proudly
"So... You and Mr Loki" he started after some seconds of silence
"Get out"
- - -
"I'm not hearing it" she said calmly as the billionaire followed her restlessly
"You listen to me right now or so help me god i will-"
"You will? Oh, please let me hear the end of that sentence" Cora said, abruptly halting her walk, "we've got an audience, c'mon, threaten me, see where that gets you" she said with a sweet smile
"This is a fucking team, Coralina, a team! Not your solo show, you don't just go around making big decisions like this without us"
"You are going to talk about teams, Stark? Sorry, guys?" she said, talking to the rest of the team intently watching, "Was anyone, other than Bruce, aware of Ultron? The big decision our friend made about how the world should be protected?" her question was met by silence
"That's different and you know it"
"Is it?" the stare off was getting uncomfortable, no one wanted to interfere, but really they couldn't keep having it
"I've redeemed myself" Tony finally said
"Well, I don't even have anything to redeem myself for" she stubbornly argued
"Cora, cut it off" Steve said, fed up with the whole drama, "Tony's right, we're a team, it wasn't your decision to make", slowly all the avengers showed their agreement, Thor being the last to do so
The grey-eyed woman just silently stared at everyone, her eyes threatening for some reason to shut, her mind screaming at her to run away, her mother's voice echoing her disappointments, her lips almost trembling, anguish feeling up her chest, she had never had a panic attack, she wasn't even sure she could have one of those, but still, by the way her throat didn't seem to be letting air in nor out, it seemed possible after all. Her heaving wasn't unseen by the group, but they didn't know how to approach, how to help, they were also slightly ready for a fight. They had never seen her like this
"I need a minute" she said as calm and collected as she could, which wasn't very calm and collected at all. She ignored the calls from Thor and Wanda as she teleported away from the common room and appeared somewhere else
Her hearing was troubled, her senses were betraying her, her sight was dazed and the depths of surfaces were definitely not right, she tried to sit on a cushion and she felt like she was falling for ages before her body finally touched the sofa, her whole face was wet, and she didn't even know where sweat stopped and tears began, in fact she hadn't even realised she was crying to begin with.
Thoughts and memories mixed in the most inoportune way possible, showing her the feeling she was so unused to feeling: failure. She wasn't allowed to fail, she didn't have that human privilege, she couldn't fail, she couldn't let these people down, she couldn't even imagine having to see them again, the way they looked at her, the disappointment, the discomfort, it made her feel sick, and even though deep down she was aware she was maybe even being dramatic, right at that moment nothing felt more real than her disturbing worries
"Francis, c'mon, look at me" a voice urged her on, "there you go, hey" the voice said when she finally looked up from her cradled position, "your eyes seem to have a fog, can you see me?" they spoke once again, a light shining in front of her immediately after
"What are you doing here Loki? I thought i'd made it obvious i needed a minute" she said in a low quiet voice
"It doesn't matter, just focus on breathing" he shushed simply, his hand tentatively running up and down her back
"I just" she sighed "couldn't believe that your brother didn't stick by my side" she laughed, "I get it, but just- You have no idea the pain he was feeling, how worried he was for you, i just wanted to help him, he's so important and-" her heartbeat once again started to race
"It's alright, the oaf probably didn't realise"
"And it wasn't all because i wanted my friend to be happy", that prompted an eyebrow raise from the prince, "I despise you, believe me, but i do also think you're innocent" she said
Taken aback, he just solemnly nodded once and conjured up a glass of water for the woman
"How did you follow me?" Cora asked once she had downed the drink
"I have my ways"
"Why did you follow me?"
"How were you able to pick me apart from my illusions?" he said instead of answering, this elicited a snort from the recovering woman
"I just looked for your heartbeat"
- - -
"Miss Cora has requested your presence in the kitchen" Friday announced later that evening
Slowly all the Avengers piled into the room, looking at the woman with her back to them on the counter. She turned around with a sheepish smile and twelve plates floating around her, she started handing them out to each of them as she spoke, "I'm sorry for what i did, I'm sorry i acted impulsively, I'm sorry i walked out, I'm sorry for trying to justify my mistake and trying to shame you into forgiving me" she said, the last part directed specifically to Stark, "Loki has agreed to explain what happened to him, he'll explain what I saw that made me take his cuffs off"
Upon having all the attention on him, the god of mischief cleared his throat and stood up higher, his whole demeanor showing his upbring as royalty, "i'm sure Thor has already told you that after a little family discussion I fell off the rainbow bridge and he assumed i had died, clearly imistaken" he started sarcastically, but his tone became clearly more somber, "when i fell, i just kept falling, i ended up in a deserted planet for, i don't know, a week, when a ship found me, a creature called Thanos had found the Mind Stone, he offered me an army and the weapon to finally have my ruling, the kingdom i deserved, in exchange, i only had to get him the Tesseract"
"So, you were given an offer and took it? My, my, you really are innocent" Stark scoffed, which earned him a simultaneous eye roll from the green eyed god and the grey eyed woman
"I'd be lying if i said i didn't consider it" he remarked, "but I didn't much appreaciate his airs of arrogance and his delirious prophet behaviour, i would just become another pawn, no thank you"
"You declined then" Natasha mumbled more to herself, but the god nodded nonetheless
"I will spare the details, but, as you know, us demented powerful creatures don't really enjoy being rejected", Thor flinched at the way his brother referred to himself as such a being, but refrained from speaking. "He decided to exploit the fact i was still in great harm and suffering from the fall, and took me to the ship, at first he was just trying to negotiate, but when he saw my resistance, torture became his new approach" he felt uncomfortable that much was clear to everyone, he continued, "this went on through the year or so between New Mexico and New York, at last he had vulnerated my mind off to such an extent, that he was able to use the mind stone on me to fulfill his wishes, to turn into his puppet"
Thre group was silent, until Cora spoke up, "I'm sure it's still hard to believe him, and me for that matter, but i've made a tiny compilation of footage and proof i have that back his words", she said gesturing for them to follow her to the TV, in there Friday had already set the whole presentation up, firstly, Shield's footage of his first appearance at the lab where Selvig was working
"Okay, now focus on his eyes, please" the image zoomed up on the god's face, "so, pretty blue if you ask me, now if you'd just look to our guest here, what do you see?"
"Green, clearly" Bucky spoke, being the closest standing to Loki
"We don't even need footage, you remember Clint's eyes, they were a very deep blue, even his pupils had a foggy blue in them, when he was under 'Loki's' control, now they are their natural blue hue"
She took a moment for that information to settle, then moved to the following, "This one is courtesy of Stark's Tower surveillance" she announced, on the screen a blurry video of Thor and Loki fighting on the rooftop, when the god of thunder finally wins the upper hand and forces his brother to look upon the burning city, "It's too late. It's too late to stop it"
"Oh, god, look at his eyes" the Scarlet witch gasps, just before Loki stabs his brother, "They... they really changed there" she says in disbelief
"My theory, Clint breoke out of his trance by blunt trauma, same goes for when Thor punches Loki: he goes through a second of clarity, but that's not enough, his mind is much more complex, and the brainwashing much more extensive, now add a Hulk to the equation, and there you have it" she clapped, then looked around expectantly
"Cognitive recalibration" the widow breathed out, "I believe you", that earned many surprised glances, "you did good, котенок" the red haired praised with a pat on Cora's shoulder and made her way to her designated couch
"I mean, if the black widow is on my side..." Cora joked and laughed relieved
"it will be a process, but, alright, I think we can agree on Loki no longer being here as a prisoner" the captain finally said after a silent conversation between him and Tony
"And?" she said with a hopeful smile
"And you've officially redeemed yourself, Sabrina" Stark said with a laugh, giving her a side hug
Loki found himself not being able to restrain the soft smile that made its way to his face as he saw the woman giggling and celebrating