Not alone
You were the first to break eye contact, bringing your knees to your face trying to control your tears. You may have found a way out of this dungeon but you lost the closest thing you had to a friend in the process. Flashbacks of your memories played in your mind, Vixen’s eyes, his charred remains, his hands. It’s all in the past. It’s over. He can’t hurt you. You desperately attempt to calm yourself down but fail. You continue to relive the memories in your head, causing soft sobs to escape your lips. Your nails were now tearing into your legs. It’s too much. It’s too real. You could feel the blood begin to trickle down your legs but your fingers just dug in harder. Somebody save me! You felt something cold against your hand and flinched. Lifting your head slightly, you realized Loki was slowly prying your hands from your legs. He kept his eyes focused down.
“I know you excel at healing, but that does not mean you should purposely harm yourself.”
You couldn’t look away from him as he slowly took both of your hands in his.
“It is going to be okay. He’s gone. It is just me here. I will not hurt you. I promise.”
He rubbed his thumbs slowly over the tops of your hands, eventually raising his gaze to meet yours. You stared at him in shock, but his eyes never left yours. The fear was still there, but his expression was soft.
“I will never hurt you. You are safe.”
The repetitive motions and his soft words began to calm you down. The memories began to fade from your head and the tears slowly came to a stop. Loki gave you a soft smile as he saw you finally relax.
“Better?”
You gave a slight nod before shifting into a kneeling position. Loki still held your hands making sure to continue the calming motion. You sat in silence watching his hands, before gathering the courage to speak.
“Why?”
“Hmm?”
Loki gave you a questioning glance. You broke eye contact, looking down.
“You saw what I did. You know what I am. Why are you still helping me?”
There was a moment of silence before Loki spoke.
“What I saw was you defending yourself, nothing more.”
“That’s a lie.”
You shot your eyes up. The softness in his face began to fade, but he never let go of your hands.
“It is not. I would be lying if I said I was not afraid of your powers. But I am not afraid of you. If you wanted to hurt me you would have already. Your powers make you different, but they do not make you a monster.”
Tears began to form in the corner of your eyes once more. You quickly closed them, attempting to stop the tears from escaping, but they fell through your lashes. The tears streamed down your cheeks but came to a stop before falling to the ground. You felt the familiar cold presence of Loki's hand brush away the tears as they fell.
“It also doesn’t change the fact that I am your friend.”
You dropped your gaze, not even trying to stop the tears at this point. Why was he so nice? You bit your lip to try and quiet your sobs. You didn’t deserve him. The cold sensation faded from your cheek as you felt Loki shift beside you. A moment later you felt the cold wrap around your arms, then pull you into a hug. You realized he had you in a full embrace, his arms holding your back and your face laying against his chest. You froze for a moment, afraid to move, before slowly bringing your hands up to his chest and burying your face further in.
“It’s going to be okay. I am here for you now. No one will hurt you again. I promise”
You knew he was lying, no one could promise that, but you didn’t care. All that mattered was now you had a friend. Even if someone did hurt you, at least you weren’t alone.