Can't See the Truth

Toni violently threw up into the cold, blue bucket as Hetalia held back her hair.

“It’s going to be a major shock,” Bruce started as he poured a glass of water for the teen. “You’ve been in a stasis for four months.”

Toni looked up at Bruce and Tony. “Four months? So it’s what, December now?”

“Da,” Hetalia said as she draped a soft blanket around her shoulders. “It’ll be Christmas fairly soon.”

Toni nodded once and threw up again. Tony sat down next to her and put a hand on her back. “We managed to reverse engineer a cure to absolve your sickness while it was still dormant. Both you and Hetalia are clean.”

The sound of the door opening drew the attention of everyone in the room. Leading the pack was Loki with Brooke, Pamplemousse, and Steve following close behind.

The god practically threw himself on the floor next to Toni and wrapped his arms around her. “Oh, my love,” he whispered as he buried his face in the warm cloth of the blanket.

Toni felt tears streaming down her face as Loki continued to hold her close. “Is this real, or am I still dreaming?” she managed to choke out.

Pamplemousse and Brooke joined Loki in the embrace of their friend, along with Steve, Tony, Bruce, Hetalia, and Clint.

“I promise that you’re very much awake,” Steve said as he kissed the top of Toni’s head.

“We were all so worried about you,” Clint said quietly.

****

As carefully as they could, the whole group managed to get Toni on her feet and up the stairs to the kitchen. Schaefer and Thor were standing at the counter with a blonde-haired teen wearing a Dr. Pepper long sleeve shirt, a spring-green scarf, and what looked like welding goggles on top of her head.

When the group approached the others, the teen’s smile faded ever so slightly.

“My friend,” Thor started, smile plastering his face. “It is wonderful to see you again! I hope you are feeling well!”

Toni nodded. “I could go for a glass of orange juice and something to eat.”

The new girl stood and walked over to the group. “Hi,” she said.

Toni stared at the girl for a while, before finally opening her mouth to speak. “I’m sorry, have we met before?”

The girl shook her head, but extended a hand. “No. My name is Elite.”

Toni took her hand. “It’s great to meet you. Do you have a common name?”

“Unfortunately, yes. Patty Shure.”

The teens seemed to nod in unison, accepting each other’s presence.

“Do you want some pancakes?” Clint asked eagerly. “I haven’t had the heart to make them if you couldn’t enjoy them with us.”

“I’d love some!” Toni said with a smile. “And while we eat, you guys need to bring me up to speed.”

****

Toni looked at herself in the mirror, looking at the protruding bones that were hidden the last time she had looked at her body. She played with her hair, examining the extra four inches or so.

A soft knock on her door made her jump. “Come in,” she said quietly.

Loki walked in, two steaming mugs in his hand. “I thought you might like some tea.”

Toni went to accept the mug when flashes of Loki and the bartender flashed in front of her eyes. The teen physically recoiled when the vision of his face when he orgasmed entered her view.

“I don’t want your tea,” she managed to choke out before shutting her eyes tightly and wrapping her arms around her small frame.

“Darling, what’s wrong?”

“Stay away from me!” Toni snapped, slapping away the god’s outstretched hand. “You left me! And when you had sex with that other woman, I somehow managed to push you out of my mind!”

Loki froze and studied her. “What other woman?”

“The bartender,” she said as sobs started to build up in her throat.

When the tears fell and her knees gave out, she didn’t try to fight Loki’s strong hands as he helped her to the carpeted floor.

“My darling,” he started. “I would never hurt you like that. I’m in love with you.”

“So...that was...the stasis?”

Loki nodded, holding the sobbing girl closer.

“How is Hetalia so sane after going through all this?”

Loki shrugged. “Maybe because she’s Russian.”

Toni burst out laughing, allowing Loki to follow suite.

After the two managed to calm down, Toni was leaning entirely against Loki’s chest while trying to keep the horrible memories at bay.

“I think you’ll like your Christmas gift from me,” he said suddenly.

“What is it?”

Loki laughed almost mischievously. “I can’t tell you that, silly girl. It’s supposed to be a surprise.”

“Then why would you get my hopes up like that?” Toni whined, pretending to be hurt.

“Because I’m the God of Mischief and I enjoy seeing you excited.”

****

Clint cuddled close to Bruce, attempting to kiss down the scientist’s neck, only to be thwarted by the man himself.

“I’m going to make myself a cup of tea, do you want some?” he said quickly as he jumped up from the couch.

“Bruce,” Clint said with an air of irritation. “I’m trying to come onto you. Could you at least pretend like you humor me?”

Bruce sighed and sat back down next to the archer. “I’m sorry, hun. I’m still not sure what’ll happen with the Other Guy.”

Clint gave a solemn nod. “Go ahead and make your tea. I just realized that I left some stuff in the training room.”

“Promise you’re not mad?”

The archer nodded again and walked out of the room towards the mini arena Stark had set up when he became Iron Man. When he got down there, Patty was polishing the leather boots for her uniform.

“Clint!” she said happily, flipping her long blonde hair to the right side of her body. “Come to do a little sparring?”

Clint shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not sure why I came down here.”

“Hm,” Patty said, giving a sympathetic look. “I’m sorry. Wanna talk about it?”

“Talk about what?”

“Well,” she started, putting down her boots and wiping her hands off on a white hand towel. “Either something is bothering you or you have some kind of memory loss issue. In any case, talking can help.”

Clint chuckled softly, admiring her sense of humor. “Well, a relationship issue is what’s bugging me.”

“Let me guess: Hetalia, Bruce, or Schaefer?”

“Um, Bruce, but why would you guess Hetalia or Schaefer?”

“Oh, please,” the teen said with a roll of her eyes. “You and Schaefer have had more beers together in the past two weeks I’ve been here than Javert and Valjean have songs together in Les Mis. As for Hetalia, you’re both spies, so call it blind ambition.”

Clint chuckled again, shaking his head. “You’re not that bad, you know that?”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” she said with a grin.

“How about this: Bruce is being a little less than interesting-”

“Nope!” Patty almost shouted. “Don’t even start with that!”

“What? Why?”

“Nothing is ever gained by exploiting your significant other. Now, try that sentence again, but try to be a bit more relationship friendly.”

“Well how else would you explain a lack of sexual desire?”

Patty looked like she could slap the smug look off Clint’s face. “Now you’re just being a dick.”

Clint sighed and threw his hands in the air. “I’m really into Bruce. But he’s acting like sex with me would be the end of the world. I understand that he wants to make sure that the Hulk isn’t going to destroy everything when Bruce let’s go, but he isn’t doing anything. Is it so wrong for me to feel a little hurt?”

“No, it’s not wrong,” Patty said. “But does Bruce exactly know that you’re feeling this way?”

“I’ve made it clear that I want him.”

“That doesn’t answer the question, Clint. Does he know that his perceived apathy is hurting you?”

Clint shook his head. “Maybe you’re right. I’ll talk to him about it in the morning.”