Loki eventually got his emotions back under control. He carefully set his wedding ring back on his dresser in its place in Sigyn's shrine. He glanced at the flickering candle. It still held a little life. No more than a day. Not enough time. There would never be enough time to mourn his soulmate.

Then there was the problem of the other Sigyn. Not a problem exactly, more a curiosity. He wouldn't deem her a problem, not yet. He needed to learn more about her before he determined that she was a problem or a threat. Right now, she was just a curiosity. She had clearly been through a lot and there were clearly secrets around her, and something, something about her was drawing Loki's attention.

He glanced at the candle again.

He swore to himself that the something about the other Sigyn that was drawing his attention wasn't like that. It was curiosity. Nothing more. Hel, he'd just met the girl and only briefly. No one in their right mind would think it was anything romantic.

Not that Loki was in his right mind.

There was something broken in him.

He had been broken for a long time.

At least twenty long years, but moreso since the torture at Thanos' hands.

*

The candle was still holding onto its life the next day when Loki checked on it.

He hadn't been able to sneak back down to the cells the previous day, but the team left the tower shortly after breakfast, attending to their own tasks for the day and leaving Loki alone on his house arrest. That gave Loki the perfect opportunity to sneak back down to the cell and the other Sigyn.

She looked surprised to see him when he returned. She also looked like she didn't mind the company, so Loki summoned a chair and sat down outside of her cell. "Hello, Lady," he greeted her.

"You came back. Color me shocked," she replied as she moved closer to the barrier between them to have a proper conversation.

"I was... intrigued," Loki admitted carefully. He still found himself intrigued. He looked over the young woman. She wasn't his Sigyn. She looked nothing like his Sigyn. Except... there was something in her eyes...

"Intrigued? I guess helpless maidens locked in what's normally your room would be considered intriguing," she replied with a teasing smirk. She was so full of life and witty banter. She'd been through so much, clearly, but she hadn't lost her spark and wit. Loki liked that about her.

"Yes, Lady, intrigued," Loki couldn't bear calling her by her name, not yet. She seemed to understand, or at least not press the issue. "By you, your story. How your mother chose your unique name? How you ended up here?"

She took a moment, gathering her thoughts. "My mother teaches history and mythology at the local university. She specializes in Norse mythology so I grew up hearing stories about you and your family, most of which are probably false," she explained. She paused to take a drink of water. "I asked her why she picked the name she did," Loki noted that she didn't say it either and he felt a twinge of... guilt?... for his reaction from the day before "all she would ever tell me was that I would grow into it one day when the time was right. I never did understand what she meant by that," she sighed, clearly remembering the conversation. Loki didn't understand her mother's words either. "As to how I ended up here? Hydra kidnapped me from my bed one night. How they found out about me or my abilities, I don't know, but they decided that I needed to work for them. Obviously, I disagreed with them on that particular point, which they didn't take too kindly to," which explained her accommodations with Hydra as well. Poor thing really had been through a lot. She was glossing over exactly what, but Loki could see the haunted look in her eyes. He knew that haunted look all too well. His own eyes held that same haunted look all too often.

"So what did you do to that this is usually your room?" She asked curiously, diverting the attention off of herself for a bit.

"It is only my room when Thor is off realm," Loki corrected automatically. He realized a moment later that his tone had been the same lovingly exasperated one he used when his Sigyn had been teasing him. It was too easy to fall into old habits with this Lady. "Apparently, the team believes I deserve such treatment for the crime of attempting to take over Midgard under duress of mind control,"

"How dare they,"

"Indeed" Loki replied with a smirk matching the Lady's

*

Loki stared at the candle in disbelief. For twenty years it had burned steadily. It had been constant in his life. Now? Now it had gone out. He knew what it meant. He looked at Sigyn's portrait. "Sig, I'm not ready," he told her. It didn't matter. He had to live up to his promise. He had sworn to her that he would move on with his life, that he would live again when the candle went out. Sigyn had told him it would be time to move on then, whether he felt ready or not.

She didn't want him to live a life without love.

A noise from outside his room disturbed him from his thoughts. He opened his door to find out what was going on. The Captain and Lady Natasha were entering the room across the hall with shopping bags. Behind them was the other Sigyn. She was moving in across the hall from Loki.

Cap spotted him. "Loki, good, you're here. This is Sigyn. She's going to be joining the team too. Sigyn, this is Loki, our last new recruit. He also lives on this floor,"

Sigyn set her bags down and moved to Loki. She offered her hand to shake in the Midgardian way, which Loki reciprocated, trying to keep the shock from his eyes. "Nice to meet you, Loki," she said as if Loki hadn't spent the last two days sneaking down to meet her. At least she could keep a secret.

Loki inclined his head. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady," he replied, trying desperately to keep his emotions in check.

Now that she was out of the cell, now that whatever was in the glass that kept her powers in line was gone, Loki could get a proper feel for her. This Lady wasn't his Sigyn in body, but she was his Sigyn in soul.

Sigyn had kept her word. She had come back to him. He had thought it impossible. It should have been impossible, but her soul had returned. In the body of this Lady.

Twenty years later.

The day the candle went out.

That was the day he properly met the woman who had Sigyn's soul.

Sigyn had known exactly what she was doing.