The first weird thing that had happened was that she was able to read the runes on the cave wall.
It hadn't even been reading really, it was more like she just understood what they meant immediately inherently. They told the story of a guy called the Gardener, but Nina hadn't paid much attention at the time, she had been scared out of her mind.
And it hadn't been just the runes either, it became every language. When she had gotten out of her hometown and back to the city she had understood every language being spoken on the street. It wasn't just that she translated it to English, it was that she inherently understood it. She understood every written language too, whether Spanish, Korean, French or anything else.
She had wanted to tell someone about it but who was there to tell? Loki was the only person who might have been able to help her, but she had turned him away the last time she had seen him, and there was no way to contact him.
With the Rosetta Stone in her head came mild headaches, but they got worse when the visions started.
She would be walking down the street when an image from the past or future would come out of nowhere. The edges would glow orange in the vision and Nina would see the area in front of her transported into the past, or sometimes to what she assumed to be the future. She saw women in huge gowns and men in suits, and Model T's going down the street, and then she would see cars hovering feet off the ground a few minutes later. Usually she could wave her hand in front of the image and it would disappear again, but sometimes it felt like it was sucking her in. The more visions she had as well, the worse her headaches would become.
But the worst part was the voice. Another man's voice had started to full her head. He was cruel, he would pull out bits of her childhood, bits that she had hated, and push her into them. That was when the visions were the worst because she was forced into them. She would blink and she was in the schoolyard of her grade school. She would be forced to watch the boys from her grade school ridicule and make fun of her as a small child.
"You can change it you know, change what happened." She would hear the voice say, that was when she would see the man. He was always dressed in a suit, tall with curly white hair. Even though his hair was white, he always seemed to look timeless to Nina, especially judging from his style and how his face was one of those you couldn't place just one number on. He could be twenty, or forty, she never knew.
Nina never rose to his bait though, she would close her eyes and force the vision down in her mind and a second later she was back to wherever she had been before.
But he came back in her dreams, every night. There would be a new scenario, some sort of hoop she would have to jump through, and in the morning she hardly remembered it, only remembering being terrified.
But he figured out how to beat her.
She was standing in her apartment; content for once because she had had no visions that day, and the voice hadn't bothered her once. She was making dinner, standing in front of her sink peeling potatoes, when she heard something behind her, the sound of a howling wind. She turned around and the world changed.
She was standing on a rocky, dark hillside. She looked up to see a spaceship flying up into the sky.
"Look there, Nina Fischer." The main in the suit, the voice, said pointing. Nina looked and saw Thor getting the pulp beaten out of him by a giant monster. Punch after punch after punch straight into the face. Nina grimaced, wondering where Thor's hammer was.
Until Loki appeared, stabbing the giant monster in the back with a spear. Nina wanted to cheer until the monster turned and grabbed Loki, pulling him to his own chest. The spear went through Loki's chest.
"NO!" Nina screamed. No one but the man in the suit heard her though, as he only laughed in response.
"Make your choice girl, there isn't much time left now."
"Time left for what?" Nina said halving her attention between Loki and Thor and the man in the suit. Thor had now pulled Loki into his lap. They were talking but Nina was too far away to hear the conversation.
"To change what could happen here. Without your help, your Loki of Asgard may die." The man said, standing next to her on the hill.
"He's not mine." Nina said through clenched teeth.
"Don't try to lie to me, I've been rummaging through your head for weeks now. I know he's important you." The man in the suit said as Nina watched Loki down in the valley between the hillsides. Nina knew that Loki was gone when she heard Thor's cry of anguish. Nina's breath started to come fast and tears went down her cheeks.
"So, what will you do?"
"What can I do?" Nina asked.
"You can alter Loki's timeline. He doesn't have to die here. But you must choose quickly." The man said, "Your body can only take so much energy at a time."
"Who are you?" Nina demanded.
"Me? I am Time itself. You only have minutes left, and then his fate will be decided for you." The man reminded her. Nina looked down at Loki again, a million thoughts running through her head.
She remembered the conversation they had had the last time he had come to see her.
"I miss the man you were, you know. He was worth saving."
"And what of now?"
"I don't know, I can't see what potential you have."
"For what?"
"To be better than what you are. You can never be who you were but…I think that you could be better than that, if you wanted to. But I'm not sure if you do."
And then, Nina was running down the hillside. She hadn't realized nothing on the planet was affecting her until she stepped outside her time bubble. Now the wind whipped her face, she felt the rocks beneath her feet, and she slipped and slid down the hillside to run down to Loki's side She immediately kneeled when she came up to him, almost falling on top of him. She cupped his face in her hands, her tears falling onto his face. He was cold as death, his face strangely like a stone.
"No, no, please come back to me." Nina said, and she pulled Loki's head and shoulder onto her lap, sitting cross-legged. The wind and sand whipped into them both, and Nina had no idea what to do. She leaned down to put her face in the crook of his neck, hiding there.
And then warmth spread across her. She opened her eyes and saw that she was glowing orange, with the same light from the stone. It was dancing and licking across her skin, and then it moved over to Loki.
The blood that had been pooled on the rocks beneath him reversed its flow, color came back into his cheeks, and Nina put a hand to his chest.
His heart, Nina thought to herself. She felt it beating again, strong and fast. Nina's tears now came from joy and relief.
Slowly Loki's eyes opened again, and he coughed trying to bring air back into his lungs. It took a moment before he seemed to notice she was even there, his eyes darting around in panic.
"It's okay, it's okay, I'm here." Nina said, running a hand through his hair. Although he still looked dazed and weak, he gave her a little smile and put the tips of his fingers to her jawline.
"How?" He said softly. Nina just smiled back.
"Thank you my dear." Time said. Nina looked up to see Time standing across from her.
"For what?" Nina asked.
"You've now accepted the power into your body, and now I can use you to my advantage."
"Like hell." Nina said, her gaze hardening.
"It's not your choice anymore darling." Time said cocking his head to the side. But Nina felt power in her yet, power that was hers to control.
"Right now the power is split between us. Half-and-half, and I still control this body, meaning I have more power than you." Nina said and Time's eyes narrowed into slits. Loki had sunk back into unconsciousness. Nina felt her strength over Time dwindling by the second.
"Find me." Nina whispered into Loki's ear. Nina then gently laid Loki gently onto the ground and stood. Nina hated to leave Loki, but it was for now. Just for now, Nina thought to herself.
"You're not going to win this battle, I will have that body." Time said, pointing at her.
"But you don't have it yet." Nina said, stepping over Loki to stand before Time. She felt the energy glowing and crawling across her skin. The wind whipped around them, and Nina only thought of one thing as she closed her eyes.
There's no place like home.
The wind stopped, the sandy air was out of her lungs, and Nina opened her eyes to see she was standing in the creek. The creek on her planet. She was home.
"Ms. Fisher?" Nina heard a voice say behind her. But she blacked out before she could figure out who it was, falling into the strangers arms.