LOKI POV

I slowly turned on the water in the shower, peeling off the smokey clothes that were sticking to my body. I threw them onto my dirty clothes pile and stepped under the water, sighing with relief as the freezing water pelted down onto my back. I watched as soot dripped from my body and into the drain before I began to scrub it off with a bar of soap. As I washed, my thoughts drifted back to Emily and I sighed heavily as her terrified eyes filled my mind. My hands clenched around the soap as I thought about what kind of torture she had to go through to end up with power as strong as she had now. No one deserved that, not even a mortal. It was just sick.

Eventually, I turned off the water and stepped out, drying my hair and body. I used my magic and covered myself in comfortable clothes before I flicked off the bathroom light and quietly opened the door. To my relief, Emily was sleeping peacefully on my bed, curled up in a ball with her hands wrapped tightly around the sheets. I smiled softly at how peaceful she looked before I sat down at my desk, picking up the book I had been halfway through reading. I created a small orb out of my magic and let it hover above my book so I could still read, but small enough so it wouldn't disturb Emily. Every now and then, she would stir or make a small sound in her sleep, but she never woke up. After a couple of hours, I felt my eyes begin to droop, but I fought against it, knowing I needed to stay awake in case Emily had a nightmare. But before long, my light had faded and I slumped back in my chair, asleep.

EMILY POV

I jumped awake the next morning to the sound of something beeping very loudly in my ear. I bolted upright and tried to scramble away from it, only to get caught up in sheets. I thrashed around more but I just got tangled up more and didn't know up from down. I felt my chest begin to tighten with anxiety and my heartrate picked up. There was the sound of something crashing to the floor and I instinctively screamed, knowing someone was here to attack me. I thrashed around more, trying to get free of the sheets.

I was being kidnapped. HYDRA was here. They were taking me back. They were going to lock me back up. They were going to torture me for escaping. They would kill me.

"Emily!" A voice interrupted my thoughts. "Calm down! Stay still." I ignored the voice, continuing to thrash around in the sheets. Something grabbed me and I screamed, kicking out in the rough direction of the attacker. There was a loud groan of pain and the sound of something hitting the floor. I managed to get free of the sheets and immediately sat bolt upright, finding that I was in a completely dark room. My chest heaved as I looked around wildly, sweeping my hair out of my face as I tried to figure out where the hell I was. Something moved out of the corner of my and I spun around to see a figure slowly standing up off the floor. I immediately scrambled backwards and the person held a wary hand out to me.

"Emily." Came the familiar voice of Loki. "It's just me."

"Loki?" I whispered, squinting through the darkness. A small green light appeared in midair and illuminated his face, causing me to relax slightly.

"The one and only." He smiled wearily, taking a cautious step towards me, the green light following him. "Are you okay?"

"What was that beeping?" I asked softly, stiffening but not moving away.

"My alarm clock." He smiled apologetically. "I didn't realize it would scare you like that."

"No, I'm sorry for how I reacted." I looked down at my hands, making sure I had no sparks before I looked up at him fearfully. "I didn't hurt you did I?"

"Just kicked me in the stomach." He replied, wincing a little as he rubbed it. "Don't worry, I've been hurt worse before. It's not your fault, you were reacting on instinct." I nodded and looked back down, trying to calm down my rapid heart rate. We were silent for a couple of moments before Loki slowly walked over to me, sitting down on the bed. I stiffened and looked up at him slightly.

"Are you feeling better after that nightmare from early on last night?" He asked softly and I looked away as flashes of the nightmare flitted through my mind. "It seemed pretty bad. I mean, you were thrashing around and screaming, not to mention that you basically set a whole room on fire."

"Sorry." I instinctively murmured, ducking my head. The HYDRA agents hated it when I got nightmares. The room they locked me in wasn't exactly soundproof and they could easily hear my screams. They would punish me severely for it, often beating me until I fell unconscious and my brain couldn't piece enough together for me to have another nightmare.

"No no, didn't mean it like that." Loki quickly backtracked, shaking his head. "I meant, like... it wasn't your fault. Clearly whatever going through your head was... horrific." He fell silent and I nodded slightly, fiddling with the bracelets on my wrists. We were silent for a couple of moments before he spoke up again.

"Do you want to talk about it?" His voice was soft and kind, but I still turned away from him. I was silent, fiddling with the bracelets, a nervous habit I was quickly developing. Loki reached out and carefully placed his hand on mine and I stiffened. His skin was soft and cool, but I was still mistrusting as I looked up at him slightly.

"Please Emily." He gave me a small smile. "We want to help you, and we can't if you don't tell us what it wrong." I looked away and closed my eyes for a second, taking a deep breath in.

"I was remembering the time HYDRA wiped my memories." I said quietly.

"They wiped your memories?" He repeated, hand stiffening on top of mine.

"They had this... machine." I nodded, looking down at our hands. He must have sensed my uncomfortableness because he pulled away. I took another deep breath before continuing. "There was this metal thing that would put around my head and it would feel like my whole head was full of...electricity. I don't know how it worked, but it did."

"How come you a remembering them then?" He asked softly.

"I don't know." I replied quietly, my voice wobbling slightly. "Maybe something triggered it." Loki put his hand on mine again to try and comfort me, but I instinctively flinched and pulled away. I took in a shaky breath and looked away, not wanting to see his face.

"Can I calm you back down?" He asked softly after a couple of seconds. "With my magic?" I hesitated for a moment, swallowing the lump in my throat before I nodded, still not looking up at him. I felt his cool fingers softly touch my temple and seconds later, I was filled with sudden feelings of calm and relief. He pulled away and I slowly looked up at him.

"Thank you." I said quietly, wiping away a stray tear that had rolled down my cheek. He gave me a small smile and the magic faded away on his hands. We were silent for a couple more moments before I bit my lip nervously and looked up at him.

"How did you get your powers?" I asked quietly. "Were you at HYDRA too?" He chuckled softly and shook his head.

"I learnt them from my mother." He smiled softly, looking down at his hands that had been illuminated a couple of seconds ago. "She was a very strong woman. We spent hours on end discovering and exploring my powers."

"Powers?" I repeated, eyes widening slightly. "Do you have more than one?"

"I am surprised you picked up on that." He replied, a smile flitting across his face. "Yes I do, I've lost track of them all. Like I said, my mother was a very good teacher."

"What are they?" I asked curiously, turning to face him a little more.

"Let me think." He paused. "Shapeshifting, conjuration, healing...telepathy, astral projection... teleportation." He fell silent for a couple of seconds, eyebrows furrowed in thought. "I think that it all of them." I blinked up at him with wide eyes and he looked back at me, smiling softly at my expression.

"I don't even know what half of them are." I admitted quietly and he chuckled before standing up. I watched him warily as he stood a couple of steps in front of me.

"I'll show you." He grinned. "Shapeshift is pretty self-explanatory. I can pick any object that I want and change into it using just my magic. A snake is one of my favourite forms to shift into. When Thor and I were younger, I shifted into a snake and, since he likes snakes, he picked me up, not knowing it was me. I shifted back and stabbed him." I gasped, my eyes widening and he quickly backtracked.

"He wasn't hurt." He said hurriedly. "Probably didn't feel anything more than a pinprick. He doesn't like snakes anymore though." He grinned and my lips twitched slightly before he continued. "Levitating and conjuration are pretty easy to understand." He held out his hand and a glass of water appeared above his hand. It floated over to me and I hesitantly reached out, surprised to find that it was actually solid. I took a sip, the cool liquid soothing my parched throat that still tasted like smoke from last night.

"Thank you." I said softly, causing him to smile before he made the empty glass disappear.

"Healing I've kind of already showed you." He continued. "And astral projection is kind of like when I create a duplicate of myself or a little bit of myself enters... I suppose you could call it the spirit world." He chuckled at the name and my lips twitched in the ghost of a smile again. "My favourite ones however, are telepathy and teleportation." He looked down at me and I watching him cautiously as he took a step forwards, kneeling down in front of me. I shifted slightly and looked down at him confused.

"Can I try?" He asked me softly.

"What are you going to do?" I asked nervously, watching him with slightly widened eyes.

"I just want to see if I can reach your mind." He replied, and I immediately shook my head, rapidly, moving away. "It won't hurt, I promise. You can focus on just one thing, and that's all I'll see." I didn't say anything and he moved towards me slowly, causing me to stiffen but I didn't move away. He held up his hand to my forehead and looked him directly in his green eyes. He gave me a comforting smile and I took in a shaky breath, focusing on his eyes, trying not to think about things I didn't want him to see. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to pull up the happiest memory I had, which honestly wasn't many at all.

"Emily?" A whispery voice echoed in my head and I jumped back in shock, my eyes flying open as Loki's fingertips slipping from my forehead. I looked over at him, my heart pounding against my chest.

"Was that you?" I asked, my voice slightly shaky.

"Yes." He smiled a little. "Your mental blocking was actually pretty good. It took me a little to get past it." I stayed silent, looking down at my hands as I tried to wrap my head around everything. Loki looked at me with concern. "Are you okay?"

"I... that was something." I managed to say and he chuckled softly.

"Do you want to try teleportation now?" He asked and I looked up at him, causing him to give me a comforting smile. "It will only be to just over there." He pointed to the balcony and held his hand out to me. I hesitated, eyes darting down to his hand before I slowly reached out and put my hand in his. He gave me a comforting smile before a burst of green filled my vision. 

AN:  

Awwww, aren't they so sweet? Who else is jealous?