Alone at last, lying on the uncomfortable bed in his Asgardian prison cell, Loki shut his eyes and tried to focus. The distance between Asgard and Midgard was considerable and he had never tried to project an illusion so far before. In his mind's eye he envisioned Rayna and their daughter, the apartment they lived in. He took a deep breath and sharpened the focus in his mind to further the connection. Rayna's sparkling hazel eyes, her squared glasses, her four-poster bed and purple quilt. The chair she would sit in to read in the corner of her bedroom, the light that would slant in through the gaps in her blackout curtains when the sun would hit the window just right in the afternoon. The ever-present scent of jasmine oil, her favorite.

The tears streaming from her eyes the last time he said goodbye to her in person. The hurt in her face, the pain in her voice. Her screams of disdain, begging him to never come back.

Loki's focus faltered and what distance he had covered dissipated. He opened his eyes, blinking away hot tears, scanned for anyone watching, then closed them again. A deep breath cleared his head once more. He pictured the apartment again in his mind, creating a blueprint of sorts in his head, and visualized himself walking down the hall from Rayna's room to the flowered door. With more concentration he could feel the soft carpet beneath his boots, dampening their sound, could feel the texture of the drywall on his fingertips. When his mind's eye reached the door to his daughter's room, he pictured what little he could remember about her, the long and silky black hair that shone in the dim light, the smile that played at her lips as she dreamed, and the glowing green lights around her fingers -

As soon as he thought it, Loki was there. His fully formed illusion now stood before the painted door, the paint cracked and peeling, and turned on the spot to look around. Clearly abandoned some time ago, this part of the apartment was in alarming disarray. Even here in the hallway there were chairs and clothes strewn about on the floor, doors were left wide open, and chunks were missing in the walls. A thin layer of dust had settled like ash after a fire. He turned to the little girl's door and pushed on the doorknob. To his surprise the heavy door, broken loose from its hinges and leaning on the frame, slammed to the floor with a deafening crash. What he saw ripped his heart from his chest.

The girl's bed was overturned and propped up on the wall, the pillows and bedding torn to shreds. The window had been shattered from the outside, as evidenced by the shards of glass on every surface within a yard of it. Clothes and toys were thrown everywhere. There was a sizeable dark stain on the carpet. With a wave of both rage and nausea Loki realized what he was looking at was dried blood. Slowly he walked into the room, anxious to keep from disturbing it too much, and knelt beside the blood. He waved one hand over the stain, sensing the energy left behind. Panic, fear, anger, righteous fury, and death had left an invisible but magically tangible scar in this room.

They must not have made it out in time, Loki thought, his body suddenly heavy with guilt. The illusion clenched his fists and a roar erupted from him, a challenge to the universe - to Thanos, for it had to have been him - for daring to take from him the only blood he had left.

He had been such a fool to warn Rayna. Had he simply kept to himself, she, and the daughter he would have never known about, would be safe still. The battle with the Chitauri hadn't reached this corner of the city and the block was untouched, save for this apartment. Loki could see as much through the broken window. He cursed his lack of foresight. By trying to protect Rayna, and learning about his child, he had signed both of their death warrants. He hadn't even known the girl's name.

The midmorning light shifted and a glint of metal caught his eye. Loki rose to his feet and crossed the demolished bedroom to where the bedside table lay broken. Next to it on the floor was a picture frame, its glass panel cracked but the photo intact. Loki picked it up and held his breath. As if frozen in time, Rayna and his daughter smiled at him from the picture. The girl had his black hair and icy blue eyes and her mother's beautiful smile, and she wore a gold necklace with the letter E on it. Loki stifled a sob and his fingers tried unsuccessfully to rub the stubborn dust off of the glass. Knowing the illusion couldn't bring the picture back with it, Loki gazed at the photograph for a few more moments, determined to sear its image in his mind, then he threw it at the opposite wall, the glass shattering and falling to the floor with a soft tinkling sound. He rose to his feet and made his way down the hall into Rayna's bedroom, his heavy footsteps kicking up dust.

Surprisingly, Rayna's bedroom appeared to be untouched. The covers on her bed were pulled back, as though she had hastily rushed out, but everything else was in its proper place, the room overall immaculate if one were to disregard the dust. A fully packed suitcase was on the floor next to the bed, and when he looked closer, Loki noticed a folded piece of paper on one of Rayna's silk pillows, addressed to him in her loopy cursive handwriting.

Loki, it read,

If you're reading this, we're gone. I can hear the fighting from here. I'm about to pack. Erika and I will leave as soon as she wakes up. You looked like you were in trouble so I'm going to take our little girl far away from here. I'm so sorry but I can't tell you where. I can't let you see her again. It was a mistake to show you in the first place. Your world has gotten too dangerous and I have to protect her. I love you but she has to come first. I hope one day you can find peace. If Erika is like you and she outlives me maybe she will find you when she's grown. I'm sorry it had to be this way. Thank you for warning us. You saved our lives. I will never forget that.

Rayna

Loki didn't want to see any more. The energy left behind by what had happened here clung to the air like smoke, suffocating any hope he had left of seeing the little girl and her mother again. He crumpled the note and threw it back down on the bed, his fists clenched. The illusion vanished and Loki opened his eyes, back in his gilded cell. For all the good he knew it wouldn't do, he wanted to scream and rage and break things. He found himself bargaining with the general power of the universe - he would give up his magic, his long life, his strength, anything and everything just to see his daughter safe. It was no use, he knew, except to torture himself, but after what he had done he felt like a little self punishment.

"I was wondering when you'd open your eyes." The soft and knowing voice of the queen, his mother, interrupted his thoughts. Loki sat up and saw she hadbeen standing almost right next to him without him sensing her. The relief that washed over him at the sight of her smothered any doubt he had about her loyalties and made him forget momentarily about Rayna and Erika.

"Odin had allegedly forbidden me from seeing you ever again as part of my sentence," Loki said bitterly. "I can't say I was expecting company." He knew he was being rude to her, but he didn't have it in him to pretend to be hospitable in his own prison cell. Loki stood up and walked over to the transparent wall, watching new prisoners being brought in. "Odin continues to bring me new friends. How thoughtful."