I paced my cell, my stack of books sat in the corner. I'd read through them twice now. To conquer my boredom, I'd rearranged furniture several times. I'd vanished everything out of my cell to fool the guards. They weren't fooled much by my tricks. I could have escaped when they opened the cell to search for me. I could have, but didn't. I was safe here. Safe from his reach. No one would go up against the Allfather of the nine realms to retrieve one mere slave. He would come one day. When he does it will be for the stone, not for me.

I was waiting on the servant with the next stack of books. Pacing back and forth in front of the glass. I had disguised my disheveled look. Fixing my hair so it didn't look tangled. I heard footsteps down the hall. The other prisoners started shouting. I returned to pacing as I figured it was a guard. The shouts turned to cat calls and whistles. I hoped for Sif bringing me new company. I hoped it wasn't Her. She'd visited me far too often without escort. I feared for her safety. She shouldn't be in the bowels of the castle without my brothers escort. It wasn't a fear of the other prisoners, as they were behind glass, same as I, it was a fear of the Allfather's wrath of discovering Her, here. The fear that Midgard had found a way into Asgard. It would start wars between the two realms.

I paced slower, waiting for the footsteps to either stop or pass by my cell. This time they passed, a guard making her rounds. I'd forgotten the one female guard. I breathed a sigh of relief, but deep in my soul I was disappointed it wasn't Her. As much as I feared for her safety, I had appreciated Her visits. This last time, she was draped in beautiful Asgardian robes of gold silk, a blue shawl draped around her back and arms. She wore a gold necklace bearing my brothers emblem. All in Asgard knew She belonged to Him. And rightfully so, as our love was forbidden.

I chose imprisonment to keep my lovers safe. If my overlord ever discovered them, they would be enslaved and tortured in place of my absence. I missed them dearly and cried nearly every night thinking of them. Being with them, being touched, being caressed. I'd played in my head, every time we'd made love, how sensual it had been.

I also played out every nightmare I've had since being back here. Every nightmare of him finding my lovers, torturing and mutilating them. My Midgardian beauty screaming in pain, my name the last words on her lips. I wrapped my arms around myself, touching the long, deep scars from the last time I was captured. I painfully remembered my enslavement.

I pushed the thought aside, wiping with it the tear that was streaming down my face. They were safe from harm, that's all that matters. She would live a full, happy life with my brother on Midgard. Safe from the mounting tensions between the other realms. Midgard was so lucky to be ignorant of the universe around it for so long. Also lucky to have my brother to defend it from the other realms. Midgard may yet escape the end of times.

I sat, thinking of my lovers again. Her soft beauty, long amber hair, gentle brown eyes. His rugged handsomeness, broad shoulders. I sighed, touching the fading bruises each had left. Only a soft smile was brought to my lips as I reminisced of happier times, before a Chitauri solider had sought me out. Reminded me of my failure and my punishment. I held my head in my hands, sobbing softly.

I had left quickly, ensuring the solider was dispatched. I made sure no word got back to my overlord that I had found happiness. I barely said goodbye before finding a way back into Asgard and into a cell. The Allfather didn't even know I was here, under his very feet. The guards didn't even know it was their Prince behind the glass walls. I smirked at my own cleverness.

I smirked until I remembered it was They that found me out. They that had come to me trying to rescue me from my cell. They had most likely found the dead Chitauri solider and found me missing. They never said how long they looked, but they recognized me through the glamor. I insisted they were safer with my incarceration. I painfully said goodbye from behind glass, hoping they could find happiness and a future between themselves.

Then She returned. She had found a way in Asgard trying to convince me to escape and be with them. She was by herself, a mortal amongst gods. I would be upset with my brother later for not being there to watch over her.

Again, the footsteps. I turned half hoping it was Her. I straighten my armor and smoothed my hair. It was the guard and servant with my books. I stood with my fingers interlaced behind my head. I watched as the servant set down the books and gathered the stack I'd already read. He quickly scurried out. The guard entered my cell. The young female guard dressed in battle armor, helmet pulled down over her eyes.

Never had the guards bothered me. Something was wrong, I felt it in my soul. I conjured a small blade to protect myself. It fit perfectly in the curve of my skull. My wide eyes following her every move around the cell. She moved the edge of the blanket with her boot. Her hand on the hilt of her sword.

It suddenly occurred to me that this guard may be the young assassin I remembered while I was enslaved. I gripped the blade tighter expecting to be attacked and dragged out of Asgard. She lifted a collar and shackles from her belt, moving toward me I made the blade vanish. She shackled me before attaching my hands to the collar she was adjusting around my neck. She led me out of my cell.

I felt the tears run down my face. I was being led to my death. This time, I was sure Thanos would kill me for my failures in securing the Tesseract. He wouldn't bother with torture this time, as I'd just plot my escape again.

The guard stopped in the stairwell, she turned to me. I must have made a noise. She pinned me to the wall. I desperately wished to teleport away, or even conjure a weapon to defend myself. If I remembered right she was a highly skilled assassin, Thanos's favorite. She was wise to secure the magic resistant restraints. She approached me, her nose inches from mine. I shut my eyes as I expected her to thrust her sword into me.

She wiped a tear from my face. I gingerly opened one eye, gazing into the brown ones staring back at me. She had raised her helmet.

"Jane?" I questioned.

"Loki." She answered back.