Too late for ‘should have’s. Summer hurled herself forward, desperately grasping for skin contact. “Give me your hands!” she hissed, dragging and dragging at the emotions she’d been trying to shut out only the moment before. Every shield she’d ever constructed would have to pale in comparison to this one, so she fed the fire inside with everything she could reach — and flung it around both of them.
“You shall /not/ have him again,” she growled, eyes wide and unseeing.
Loki’s eyes rolled wildly as he tensed all over. He felt heat—unbearable heat—spread over and around him. It burned like a wild fever killing off his infection. He felt the connection to Thanos weakening, but not before he heard the words grate through his mind:
I will be back for both of you…
He snarled and snapped back into consciousness, gripping onto Summer like a madman. He struggled to catch his breath. ”What must I do?” he managed finally.
“Mother of unholy things!” Summer swore. “Gods of all th—” The paroxysm seized her unawares, jerking her spine into a bowed arc and clamping her teeth together on the end of the phrase. One hand, clawed with tension, reached out, flailing at nothing. Her breath hissed out between her teeth, choking on a cry.
Loki’s gaze turned desperate as he clutched at her. ”Summer!” he demanded, frenzied. ”Summer, come back to me!” If he panicked, that would be worse, wouldn’t it? She would feel it…
He forced himself to calm down and held her closer. ”I’m so sorry…” he muttered, beginning to feel the familiar pangs of self-loathing.
“D-don’t,” she managed, once the seizure had run its course. “C-can feel that too. Ah god it /hurts/!” Biting her lip, she strained against a resurgence, fists clenched. “‘s not your fault, L-loki. I called it … t-to me. Should have ex—expected this.” Every breath shuddered in and out, shaped by force of will.
Finally, finally, the spasms ran their course, and she sagged against him, limp and aching. “I’m sorry you had to see that,” she whispered.