Loki took a seat, and began to properly investigate the situation that was the goddess' mind. He completely ignored the others in the room, placing a barrier around himself and the girl so as to not be interrupted. Every so often, he'd have to stop and clear his own mind, take a moment and stretch his numbing limbs.

Thor slipped in after some time, exhausted from his negotiating with SHIELD. He entered the infirmary with two plates, each bearing his midgardian joy: Poptarts. "Loki, take a moment." He asked of his brother. The barrier let Thor through.

Loki looked up at Thor with tired eyes, and eyed the plates. "What is it?"

Thor offered one to him. "Midgardian pastries. I think you would like them."

Loki raised an eyebrow, and took a plate from Thor. He waited until the oaf had already eaten some before trying it himself. He found that he did like it, and ate his entire portion.

Thor looked at the girl curiously. "What have you found?"

Loki leaned back in his seat. "I know what I have to do to get into her mind, and then I'll find what comes next."

Thor examined his brother. "Would you like to get some sleep before returning?"

After a moment, Loki nodded. "I should."

~~~~~~

Loki dreamed of blurry images, and woke with a heavy feeling in his chest. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he brushed his fingers through his hair. Loki was told of what he'd done while controlled, but he was sure that he knew only some. The prince felt that he'd rather know. Then he could at least hold himself accountable.

Damn, he thought to himself, it's far too early to be thinking like this. Go on, splash some water on your face, you'll feel better. He took long strides into the washroom, and did exactly that. He dried off his face, and tidied up his hair before slipping out of the room. 

Loki heard Thor speaking in one of the rooms, and decided to avoid whoever he was talking to. He'd eat later. Now, he wanted to get back to the goddess.

It was a good thing he did, because things weren't the same as when he'd left her. Her mind was worse. The outside felt... well, attacked- and not by some foe, he realized. 

"Oh dear." Loki frowned, genuinely concerned. "She's tearing her own mind apart."

Loki took his seat, and gave a glare to the air in general. This was going to be trickier than he'd thought, and he was working against time. Fantastic. Then, he began to work.

It was like a magnificent spiderweb, electrified, knotted, and everywhere. Loki was struggling to disable the warding. It if was physical exertion, he would have been sweating within the first minute, and panting soon after. There was so much to untangle, to straighten, to smooth, and organize. 

A tap on his shoulder was enough to put him off his game, and he stumbled. He was shocked out of the web, and stood up in alarm. Holding a hand to his head, where he felt the strain of what he'd been doing, he glared at who had disturbed him. 

Thor looked irritatingly innocent, and offered a plate of food and glass of water to Loki. "I noticed you hadn't come for breakfast, and it's well past when midgardians eat 'lunch'. You should eat."

"I don't have time." Loki scowled, and took his seat yet again, almost diving back into his work before Thor bothered him again.

"It won't take long. Eat a little, at least." Thor insisted.

Loki glared at the wall in front of him. He took the water from Thor, and chugged it before passing it back. Loki didn't wait for a response prior to returning to his task.

Thor sighed, and set the plate down on a table nearby. Loki had a habit of forgetting to eat, and he worried that it would be the same on Midgard. His brother would get so focused on the task at hand that he'd lose track of the world around him. Surprising himself, he realized that his brother, the Lady Annabeth, and Stark all had that in common. Thor thought he'd heard a phrase... Wasn't it 'Great minds think alike'? He supposed it was somewhat true. 

As Thor left, Steve entered and sat a respectable distance away from Loki. After watching the god for a moment, he came to the conclusion that whatever Loki was doing, he couldn't see it. The soldier opened his sketchbook and resumed what he'd been drawing when he was keeping Percy company just a few days ago.

Steve felt hollow the entire time. Every time he thought about him. The world fell away around Steve, and he tried to trap his memory within the page. The shape his mouth made when he grinned, the crinkles in his eyes, the slightest curl in his hair, the stubble along his jaw.

Steve realized his hand was shaking, and took a moment to look at it. He set his pencil down, and buried his face in his other hand. He hadn't realized he'd started crying until Natasha set a hand on his shoulder, and startled him out of his thoughts.

She took a glance at the sketchbook in his lap, and seemed to have figured it out. Steve wiped his tears off his face. "They've got dinner ready." She said softly, quietly. Steve nodded and closed his sketchbook, standing up. 

Natasha took his place in the chair. Three hours later, Thor came in and tried to get Loki to eat again, or rest. He was completely ignored, and left defeated. Four hours after that, Clint came in to take Natasha to bed.

"It's okay. I want to be here when she wakes up." Natasha protested, and held back a yawn.

"You're gonna fall asleep before he finishes at this rate. C'mon, Nat." Clint said.

"I'll just sleep here." Natasha bargained.

"You won't be able to, we both know that. The area isn't secure. Stand up or I'll carry you." Clint informed her.

Natasha stayed seated, and then looked up at Clint with a single quirked eyebrow.

"Oh, that really proves how tired you are, if you're flirting with me like that in the open." Clint commented. He didn't bother to acknowledge her light glare before he scooped her into his arms. He smirked slightly at her huff, but she was already starting to doze off as he walked. 

Clint barely got her to change out of her clothes before she fell asleep again. Slipping into his own nightgear, he settled in his space beside her, his arm securely holding her to him. He pressed a kiss to the back of her neck, and noted that her hair was getting longer. He'd have to ask her if she was going to trim it or grow it out.

~~~~~~

Barely fifteen minutes after Clint took Natasha, Loki extracted himself from the goddess' mind. He shuffled over to the cot where Percy had lain beforehand, and promptly fell into it, exhausted. He awoke after a long, much needed rest, only to have Thor shove food at him and demand that it be eaten. 

The heroes and residents of the tower all took some time to visit and supervise. But it was awkward, seeing as they couldn't get very close and there wasn't much to see. Percy was nervous, and Annabeth was practically attached to his side. The other demigods stayed away from the norse god, not wanting to cause any political issues with the threats they were likely to deliver.

By the end of that day, Loki had finally repaired the exterior of her mind enough for him to enter. Reluctantly, he left the space to share the news. Unfortunately, it was one of the more hostile residents that was there.

Tony's eyes snapped up at Loki's movement. "Well? Are you done messing around with her head?"

Loki stood and stretched. "I have repaired the outer barrier of her mind. Unfortunately, whatever was ailing her is her own doing. My next task is to get inside and assess the situation."

 Tony narrowed his eyes. "Is she gonna wake up soon?"

"Probably not." Loki replied honestly, and drank some water that Thor had probably left for him. Thor was treating him like a sick child. Or, perhaps, he was just excited that he still had a brother.

"I don't like that answer." Tony grumbled.

"Well, it's the only one I have for you. While you can mope and grouch about your life, I think I'll get back to the task at hand." Loki said, and took his seat. 

Then he dove into the goddess' mind. It had practically the same layout as Perseus', but this mindscape was an absolute wreck. Shelves were tipped over, the isles were cluttered with things strewn haphazardly about. Loki took a deep sigh. 

The prince began to walk about, trying to find where her conscious was. The trail left by the massacred memories was doing little to help him find her. Then he heard the yelling. Specifically, curses. In Greek. And then what he assumed was the noise that a shelf made when it fell over.

Loki quickened his pace until he was running, trying to find her before she made this even worse. The prince rounded a corner, and saw her. She was wearing the white dress that her body was wearing. As she threw something, a plastic spade, Loki guessed, she saw him.

"You!" She blurted. "You were in my vision! And-" She squinted to get a better look at him. "And your eyes are green! See, I told them!"

Loki nearly laughed. That was almost the same thing Perseus had said to him. He wondered how else they were alike.

"You were with my sister!" She continued. "Loki, right?"

Loki nodded and walked closer to her. "I am Loki, yes. However, the other is debatable."

"That you were with my sister? Oh, were. It would be future tense then, wouldn't it?" The girl said.

Loki couldn't argue with that, though he realized that she wasn't aware that her soul had been split, or that she was, in fact, the sister that she was speaking of. She thought she was Perseus. He had been so busy trying to get to this point that he hadn't thought about what he might say when he actually got here.

"Um, so anyway. Where are we?"

"Your mindscape." Loki said.

"Mindscape? What's that?" She asked, and tilted her head.

"A collection of one's memories within their mind. Or a scene of imagination." Loki answered.

"Huh. Okay. So, I've been trying to get out, and I can't wake up. I'm assuming you know how to do that? Considering you're, you know, inside my head." She said, and then frowned. "Woah, you're inside my head. How did I like, not realize that earlier? Jeezus, this is whack."

"I'm not even going to pretend that I know what that last sentence means." Loki said, mostly to himself. "Anyway. I don't think it's a good idea for you to wake up just now."

"Why? I've been stuck in here for like, days. Like a week. You got in, so obviously you can get out. Just take me with you. Then I can get back to my own body, and my fiancee." The girl said.

Loki internally grimaced like he'd been impaled, and externally winced like he'd gained a papercut. This was not going to go well.

"Uh, that means something's not good. Wait, is Annabeth okay? Was she hurt?" She demanded.

"No, no, the Lady Annabeth is fine." Loki assured her.

"If she's fine, then what's the problem?" The girl scowled at Loki.

Loki sighed. "What's the last thing you remember, before you were here?"

The girl blinked at him suspiciously. "The Fates. I was talking to the Fates."

"Yes. And they offered you a choice, correct?"

"Yeah. How did you know that?" The girl narrowed her eyes at him.

"Because Perseus Jackson told me." Loki stated.

"No, I didn't." The girl said slowly, but surely.

"That is correct." Loki began, but was interrupted before he could continue.

"Then how could I tell you if I didn't tell you?" She demanded.

"You didn't tell me, Perseus Jackson did." Loki stated.

"I'm Percy Jackson, dude." She glared at him.

"The Fates offered a deal, but they didn't get an answer in time so they picked a third option." Loki began to explain.

"What?"

"They split your soul in half."

"What the fuck? What are you saying? What are you talking about?"

"They split your soul in two. Half remains with Perseus Jackson, and the other half-" Loki paused and looked her in the eyes, "-is you."

"What?" her voice cracked.

"You are not Perseus, but his twin, essentially." 

"No, that..." She swallowed. "But I am Percy. I mean, these are all my memories!" She gestured to the chaos around them.

"They are your shared memories, yes. But after your soul split, you each began to form your own." Loki said.

"No, no. I'm Percy." 

"You were, my Lady. But not anymore." Loki said softly.

"But, if I'm not Percy, then-" She struggled, "Then I'm not real! I'm just some fake-" 

"You are real-" Loki tried to say, but was cut off by her grabbing the nearest item and throwing it. 

"No! I'll find the way out myself! I'll wake up and this will all be some crazy nightmare!" She insisted, and stormed off, carelessly searching through and leaving even more of a mess in her wake.

"You're making it worse!" Loki called out as he took off after her.

"No, I don't need to listen to you! You're probably just some joke the Fates sent anyway!"

Loki halted for a moment. The Fates were the Greek equivalent of the Norns, weren't they? He was the god of tricks... Loki realized he might lose her if he didn't keep moving. "Just stop for a moment!"

As she ignored him, Loki teleported in front of her. "Listen to me-"

She ducked around him and continued her march. "There is absolutely no reason for me to do that. I don't need to get stuck in here for longer than I have to be. So you can just fuck off."

Loki stared at the back of her head. "Damn psychotic Greeks." He muttered, before chasing after her again. This time, he grabbed a hold of her so that she couldn't run off. "Listen to me!"

"No!" She yelled in his face. "No! You're just gonna tell me that I'm not Percy! And that's stupid, because I am!"

"You have part of his soul, yes, and his memories prior to the split, but you are not Perseus!"

"No! Godsdammit, if I'm not Percy, then who am I? A fake. A fucking fake! I'm not Percy, I'm not real!"

"You are real. How else would I be here, in your mind, having this conversation?" Loki asked.

"I'm not real. I'm just a fake. Fucking damn it. Fuck the Fates!" She continued to say. "I'm not fucking real, I'm a fake, a fucking knock off."

"You are real! Listen to me, by the Norns, just listen to me!" Loki yelled and caught her attention. "You are real. You just aren't who you thought you were."

"If I'm not Percy, then who am I? I don't even have a fucking name." She fought back tears, only half successful.

Loki's mind supported him with a name he'd heard before. Probably in one of the books he'd read. "Katha."

She looked up at him. "What?" She asked softly, trying to blink the tears out of her eyes.

"Katha. It's a name from my world. It means 'real' or 'true'." Loki said.

She looked at him for a minute. "It's got a Greek meaning, too. 'pure'."

Loki smirked for a second. "I think mine is more appropriate."

"Yeah, but I'm Greek. Or... If I'm Percy's sister... Wait, am I Roman?" She blurted.

"I'm not sure. But is that what you'd like to be called?" Loki asked.

"Katha?" She thought for a minute. "Yeah, I think that'll work."

A/N

Sike! You thought it wasn't clintasha, even though it won the vote? Check the tags, my dears!

Also, close to the dress Katha is wearing: