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It had almost been three weeks since the team had lost her. Since he lost her. They were not going to be able to get her out in time. Catalina was the glue that held him at peace. She kept him from losing his mind again. She was his safe haven. His Valhalla as he had told her many nights of not being able to sleep. He would bring them both to the roof of the Avenger’s tower with blankets and pillows that they would set up so they could watch the stars and forget the world around them even for a little bit.
“We gotta get out of here. This place is going to blow.” Catalina spoke quickly into her earpiece. She was back to back with Tony, Thor not that far down the hall from them.
“Agreed. Cap, what’s your status?” Tony replied.
“Nat and I are out of the building. We got the USB. Get out of there, guys.” Steve said, slightly out of breath. They began the great escape. Cat freezing enemies here and there, while dodging their shots. That’s when it happened.
Catalina, who had been a few steps behind the other two Avengers, stepped on a loose floorboard, causing it to cave and her to drop two floors down. Debris and cement falling all around her. She quickly ducked out of the way, making a wall of ice to break the impact of the debris that would have killed her.
“Cat! Are you okay? We’ll get you out, don’t worry.” She heard Tony speak quickly. They won’t make it out.
“Tony, no. Get yourself out of here now. This place is going to blow. Go now. I’ll find a way out.” She commanded.
“Lady Catalina, Loki would not forgive us if we came back without you.” Thor’s booming voice come through the speaker. Tears sprang to her eyes momentarily.
“No, Thor, this place is going to blow. Get Tony and yourself out of here now.” Cat yelled through the speaker.
“Catalina, I am not leaving you here by yourself yo—“ She cut him off.
“My last wish, Stark. Get out. I love you guys. Tell Loki I said goodbye and not to do anything reckless or I’ll come haunt his ass.” That was the last Tony heard as he was pulled out of the building that exploded a few moments later with Catalina still stuck inside. All he could do was watch, tears in his eyes as the building collapsed in flames and debris.
Now all he had was an illusion. An illusion he would create to keep him from raging out on everyone in the tower. The illusion would remind him of who he was and why he should stay put. Sometimes, he would forget it was an illusion, causing him to reach a pale hand to touch the face of the woman he had come to adore only for her to disappear once again and his blue eyes would fill with angry tears.
Like now, he sat on a couch in his room with a book in hand, pages long forgotten. In front of him sat the image of her sitting on the ground, a book of her own in her hands. A small smile on her face as her eyes darted back and forth excitedly across the pages in anticipation of what was going to happen next in the book. His eyes followed her every movement, trying to memorize them all over again. She looked up at him through her dark lashes like she would many times and smirked at him.
“Like what you see?” The illusion asked the dark haired prince. His eyebrows furrowed.
“What I would give to have you here to look at me that way again, darling.” He quietly said. Loki had been so distracted that he had not heard the door open.
“Brother… you cannot keep doing this to yourself. Why torture yourself so?” Thor asked. Loki glared at the ground as the illusion disappeared. He looked up at Thor.
“Do not tell me what I can or cannot do, brother. What do you want?” Loki sneered, leaning back on his couch and opening his book again, the scowl he carried around others back on his face. He heard Thor sigh before taking a seat on the end of his bed.
“Come back with me to Asgard. She is not coming back, brother. This is not good for you. What you are doing is not good. She would not want this. She would want you to continue your life. Come home.” Thor pleaded. His bright blues staring intently at his brother as if by some miracle it would help bring them both back home. Loki shot out from his seat, practically seething, the book he had in his hand was tossed against the wall so hard, it made a dent in it. His black hair followed the movement, becoming disheveled. He glared holes into Thor who looked surprised for a moment.
“Do not ever speak for her. Do not pretend to know what she would want or not. It is your fault she is gone. It is your fault I am this way. Do not play the victim, Thor, you are no innocent. You along with your Avengers will live with the fact that you all left her behind. I could have been there and I would have gotten her out, but you fools kept me here like a caged animal. Now, she is gone. Are you happy now?” He spat out at his brother. Thor’s
eyes hardened slightly.
“Loki, you were not caged. We needed you here with Barton and Banner. We could not leave the tower defenseless. You are not thinking clearly, bro—“ before he could finish his sentence, Loki’s hand flashed green and Thor was thrown across the room into the wall.
“You are no brother of mine.” Loki hissed out at him. Thor reached his hand out, summoning Mjolnir. He stood up as he watched Loki carefully. This is what they all had been worried about. They were waiting for the explosion. The door to the room burst down and the rest of the team came in, save Banner, which is pretty self explanatory.
“Guys, let’s not do this here. I literally just repaired all this stuff and you guys are just going to make a mess. Take it outside.” Tony groaned. Loki’s head shot over to him, his glare causing Tony to hold his hands up in defense. Natasha smacked Tony behind the head glaring at him. Thor had made his way over to where the rest of the team was standing. Loki opened his mouth to make a snarky comment when Tony’s AI cut him off.
“Sir, someone has surpassed the locks of the building.” FRIDAY announced to Stark. Tony looked confused.
“Get the security cams up. Guys, let’s take a rain check on this argument.” He replied.
“The security cameras are down, Mr. Stark. There has been a breach. Someone is already in the building.” The AI announced. Everyone made their way out of the room quickly, splitting up. Thor and Loki made their way towards the living room. They scanned the giant room when they saw a shadow move around the corner and into the next room.
“Heading to the laboratory.” Thor spoke into his ear piece. Loki’s eyes squinted and he disappeared before reappearing in the laboratory, cutting off the the person before they went into the room, making sure that they couldn’t get out. Once the rest of the group was surrounding their intruder, Steve walked up to Loki and the perpetrator.
“Good job, Reindeer Games. Now, who are you?” Tony asked walking up to stand next to Steve. Steve reached up, pulling down the hood of the person. Their hair flowed out from the hood, cascading around their face. Her green eyes shot up to meet the team’s faces. She chuckled a bit, looking sheepish.
“Surprise?” She said, uncertainly. Loki froze.
“Cat?” Tony asked, taking a step forward. The brunette smiled widely at Tony before leaping towards him to give him a hug. He laughed in shock before tears began to flood his brown eyes.
“You’re alive, oh my God. How? What happened?” He sputtered our questions without hesitation. She ignored his questions and just smiled before moving around the room hugging her family tightly.
“Could we possibly have the interrogation tomorrow? I’m exhausted...” She finally replied looking at them with a small, tired smile. They all laughed and nodded, beginning to file out of the room. Tony walked up to her, kissing her forehead before walking out. Now it was just them. Loki had not taken his eyes off of her the entire time. She turned to look at him and she smiled that smile that would melt him in an instant.
“Can we go to our spot?” She asked him. He snapped out of his daze when she didn’t give him a chance to answer and walked towards the stairs that would lead her to the roof. He watched her walk away not believing what he was seeing. It was just another illusion. He was sure of it. He couldn’t bring his feet to move. He was frozen to his spot. She turned when she realized he wasn’t following, her dark hair flying behind her. She met his blue eyes with her green ones and smiled sadly.
“Are you coming?” She asked quietly as if she spoke any louder, it would shatter him. He slowly stepped towards her so she went through the door and up the stairs.
Once they reached the roof, she walked to the edge and looked up at the stars, smiling at the familiarity of the scene. The city below them, and the man she loved more than anything beside her gazing at the stars with her. Only, he wasn’t looking at the stars. He was watching her, waiting for her to disappear. She turned to him, meeting his eyes. She reached up to touch his face, only to have him flinch back, avoiding her touch. She frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
“You will disappear if you touch me. You are a mere illusion made to taunt me by the cruelty of my own mind.” He said bitterly, turning away from her.
“Loki, were you making so many illusions of me that you’ve been blinded as to what is real? I am here, love. I’m no illusion. I’m here.” She stated.
He ignored her. It went quiet so he thought that the illusion had disapated. He sighed, his shoulder sagging, and tears coming to his eyes. Then he felt it. The small hand pressed to his back. His eyes flashed open and he spun to face whoever had come up behind him, but he was met with green eyes that were filled with so much emotion, it hurt him to look at them for too long.
“Catalina…” He whispered. Loki hesitantly raised his pale hand like he had done many times before with his illusions, but unlike the others, his hand did not go through. It met the soft, warm skin he had memorized what felt like so long ago. She leaned her face into his hand, missing the feeling of him touching her.
“It’s me, Loki. I’m here.” She reassured him. For the first time in a very long time, he smiled. A tear fell from his eye and Catalina brushed it away with her thumb.
He couldn’t help himself, he pulled her in tightly, and buried his face into the nape of her neck and inhaled the flora scent that almost always seemed to follow her. She held him as tightly as she could with one arm and her other hand ran through his long black hair.
“What were you thinking? Do not ever leave me like that again. I never want to feel that again. I felt as if half of me was missing.” He mumbled, pulling away from her to cup her face in his hands.
“That’s in the past now. Let’s just enjoy our time here and now. I missed you so much. If I could have got back here sooner, I would have. I got back here as fast as I could.” She replied, holding the hand that was on her left cheek, kissing his palm. He closed his eyes, breathing out of his nose slowly. He felt soft lips press against his own. His eyes opened as she pulled away, she looked up at him lovingly.
“Please don’t leave me again.” Loki whispered softly.
“I love you, Loki and I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.”
“I love you too, darling.”