"Uuuuuhhhhgggg, c'mon Agent, just let us get Doom or Strange or someone to counter the spell already! This is really boring to watch." I wake up to the sound of Tony stark's voice and it took me a second to remember my situation.

I had been so exhausted after my panic attach, and Phil Coulson had not stopped asking questions once he was certain I was listening. I had not answered any.

From my spot in the corner I had sat for at least an hour, ignoring every one of his attempts to interrogate me for information- it was not rude or demanding, but it did actually… annoy me. In that hour I had checked myself over, as per Loki's wishes, and found there was a pretty nasty bump on the back of my head and dried blood -blood!- in my hair- "You hit your head pretty hard back at the tower, we had Dr. Banner check you out and he said the wound was pretty well healed." Unsurprisingly, Loki and I had both been thoroughly unsettled about having been near the Green Beast. There were bruises, already faded and yellowing, on my wrist, and other places the zip ties had been.

I moved to check the cut the female agent had given me, moving aside the slightly bloodied fabric to see that it had already scabbed and healed. Coulson had shown interest in the cut, asking how I had gotten it, if one of his agents had done it, but like all the other times I did not answer. Of course this one Loki had wanted me to answer, he wanted them to pay, but I feared if I got them in trouble they would come back for revenge. I did not think they were above that.

But after awhile my mind began to wander, and my thoughts would wander until they didn't make since, and then I would snap out of it and drift back off. This happened a few times until Loki had me mutter a spell- he very much dislikes when he cannot think-, telling me that the shield would stay in place, and I finally fell asleep, curled up in my little corner for who knew how long.

"No Tony, he'll wake up eventually. Whatever it looks like, this is not Loki and rough handling is not going to work on him. The shield is his security blanket, and ripping that away will not help him trust us."

Phil Coulson was still there.

Security blanket!? Loki scoffs.

I have to pee. I tell him. However longs it has been, it has been too long. And as much as I would have liked to remain in my little sanctuary for the rest of eternity that was just not going to happen was it?

Yes I know... Listen, just get up and tell him. Whatever is wrong with him I would rather he take us to a bathroom then have them all see you and me piss ourselves... So you really want brother to see that? He questioned when he felt my hesitation.

Oh he was mean.

I shifted, uncurling myself and rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I sit up and without turning my head to Phil Coulson I stretch my arms, then my legs and pop my spine and my neck and-

Quit stalling.

Fine.

"Sleep well?" Phil Coulson asked when I turned to him. I must have been out for quite awhile, because he's sitting in a chair now, still right outside my shield, and working on a lap top.(now what could he possibly be doing on a laptop, Loki wonders). I nodded once and then opened my mouth to speak. Then closed it again, and open it again,

"I… I have to us the restroom…" I managed to get out.

"I would imagine, the team took you from the tower-" why was he so casual about kidnapping? "-at two p.m. yesterday, and it's-" he looks down at his laptop "-almost twelve."

Almost twelve.

"How about we take you to the bathroom, and then come back here for lunch."

"We?" I asked.

"Well, at least one of the agents from outside are gonna want to come along- but I'm not going to have them zip tie you again Mr. Snow, it's just precautionary that they come."

He speaks as if I am even going to let them near me. I am not letting this shield down. I just needed him to take me to the restroom, and that did not require anyone else.

The Hel you aren't! And before I knew what was happening, Loki cut me off, and the shield flickered away, leaving me completely exposed. Now get up.

"See, it not so hard to trust me," said Phil Coulson- so, so ignorant of our internal conversation- closing his laptop, and standing to set it on the table a few feet away.

Loki please-

No! He was right, you were using the shield as a security blanket, rather than protection, if there is danger I will allow you it back. For now you are going to learn to be brave, and it starts by getting off our ass and fallowing that anomaly to the restroom. Loki's tone not harsh, nor was it threatening or mean. He had simply been his own kind of encouraging, I needed to do something, and he was giving me the push I needed in a way he thought I needed it.

Never taking my gaze away from Phil Coulson I slowly began to raise to my feet, ever so slowly I practically slid up the wall, my body began shaking, though not quite as much as before, and when I'm final standing I hear "It's aliiiiive! Mwahahahaha!" from who I thought might have been "Pete". And a snort from who is clearly Mr. Stark. Then several reprimands from all of the others about "being mature" and "this is a work place."

"'Kay, just wait there for a sec." Phil Coulson told me and moved his hand up in a gesture that said "stay put", then walked over to the door.

"Hey guys, open up," he shouted, knocking on the door. When it opened he exchanged a few quick words with whichever agent unlocked the door, then turned back to me and beckons me come.

The trip to the restroom- a normal public-looking restroom- was perfectly uneventful and quick on the outside. Whichever masked agent was accompanying us, other than having their gun out and ready, did nothing but walk behind me with Phil Coulson at his side as we walked down a few empty corridors. On the inside, however, Loki and I were again sorting through what needed to be done and said, and what we needed to keep to our selves. He figured that I could essentially tell them anything about my people, because they probably already knew it and would be testing my lying ability (or lack thereof).

I disagreed. If I told them, say, how and how well, out medicine worked in comparison to theirs, they may go on a raid for them and hurt, or the Gods forbid kill, a soul in an attempt to gain it. He countered saying that anything interesting we told them about, if they tried to get it they were going to try when there were no souls around, they could fight their way away he said, but they would want to avoid the attention so that they would be able to come back another time as well. With a little more persuasion in his argument he convinced me that we could probably tell them most of that.

One thing we readily agreed on was that they could not know about Loki, and he also did not want me to tell them any of his memories, as he felt those were none of their business, and would make no difference for them anyhow. And besides, I did not even have any of his adulthood memories, all I knew is what they knew. And Loki's childhood memories - the memories I did have- were hardly going to be important to them, so the plus there was that I was not going to have to lie.

By the time we had arrived back in the interrogation room and had sat back in the metal chair (thankfully not tied to it this time), waiting for Phil Coulson to finish his conversation at the door with the agent, we had sorted though most of what I would and would not say, and how I would avoid answering in lies.

"Well Mr. Snow, lunch will be here shortly," he said, sitting down in the chair opposite me. "I've told them to tell whoever's cooking to make you something vegetarian, so you don't have to worry about not eating it- we've got a few other vegetarians here, so it's not a problem either. In the mean time however, I'm going to ask you a few questions, and it would be in your best interest to answer them to the best of your ability, alright?"

I nod, looking down at the table.

"We can start with the dragons and flower if you'd like, I gotta say, that's been nagging at me all morning, y'know, what Dragons and Flowers have to do with not eating meat." he said it like a suggestion, like I had a choice.

Norns he is persistent.

He is demonstrating to you that you cannot avoid answering his inquires, no matter how mundane.

"Uuuuuhhh-ther- another. Planet. We souls… colonies." I began to ramble. "The dragons ate the flowers- sort of flowers- animal flowers- we colonized and ate the flower too- not me though I was a bear- and they're not animals, like sentient flowers, living flowers, and it was like-like if you ate a human, so they ate the flowers too, and -and burned them alive-because dragons… And I though what-what if animals on other planets are sentient like hosts, some might be, so I do not eat animal. Because what if... and is why I came here… to not eat meat…" My voice trails off when I realized I started speaking of something that was not about the question. That was another thing Loki told me not to do, answer questions that were not asked, because it only lead to more questions.

"You were a bear? And that's why you came here? Care to elaborate?"

Not really…

"The bears… another planet… lots of, lots of snow and ice and, and there not really bears, just um, mammals too, like humans, but they um, they need to eat meat, and when I- when I found out about the dragons on my last term as a bear, I, I decided to come here, when I later found about this world because you do not need meat…to live."

"Hm. And how many planets have your people colonized Mr. Snow?"

"Nine or ten… or more- a lot, a very lot." Now I was not ever you proper grammar.

You truly have turned my silver tongue to lead. Loki commented, though it did not seem harsh or angry.

I'm sorry.

It's no matter, it is as you said once, no one is going to think anything of me. Let my tongue be turned to led, for it is your tongue now, and yours to command. If you wish to speak in a stutter, then do, if not Fallen Midnight Snow, then speak up. They can do you no harm, for you have all of my magic at your finger tips should you need it, and I have every doubt in all the worlds that they will attempt to have harm brought upon you for answering the question because you answers in an even tone. Loki's words were filled with encouragement, and suddenly I felt much more at ease remembering that they could not touch me if they tried anything, and also to know I at least had one person on my side in this place, and no, I am not alone. I have Loki.

"-Mr. Snow!" Phil Coulson shouted, not angrily, just loudly.

"Huh! Yes? What?" my head snapped up to look at him. Then to the man holding two tries of food. Where had he come from?!

We have to get back in the habit of being aware of our surroundings. Loki groans.

"Lunch is here." He said, his tone indicating he was repeating himself. The man- not an agent, or at least not dresses as one- set the two trays down and left after Coulson and I thank him.

"Do you often zone out like that?" he asked taking a bit of the… I thought it might be a turkey sandwich he'd been given.

Did I? Well I did talk to Loki more often than not so…

"I guess so, maybe." I said, and I was proud of myself that my words came out even and clear. I looked down at my meal, it is three small square slices of homemade pizza with bell peppers- red and green- mushrooms, and onions, and cold can of coke.

Well, that actually looks good, I figured they would give us… frankly I thought they might just force you to eat meat to be spiteful.

As I took my first bite of pizza I heard;

"Professor Xavier, is there something we can do for you?" from Steve Rogers.

"Well to be entirely honest I came to see the soul-"

"My apologies Professor, but I would prefer my brother's body not be gawked at by all those who wish to see. I am only even allowing the young Peter here because I lost a bet with Stark." Brother's voice interrupts the professor. Loki's though are mixed between joy that Thor is looking out for him, and mild exasperation that he even made, let alone lost, a bet about who could see. I was just happy to know he was still there.

"Yes, I understand Thor. It was just that I, overheard some of the agents thoughts about how he had a panic attack, and his other behaviors… I came to ask if I might observe him in person at another time." The professor explained himself and the silence that follows give the illusion that Thor was contemplating his answer.

"If an opportunity presents itself, I shall have you informed."

"That's all I ask." There was a smile in his voice. "And Peter, your aunt wants you to come up for lunch."

I know that name, I know that name! Loki thought frantically, trying to figure out where he knew this Professor Xavier from and after a minute his hard work pays off.

He must be that mutant teacher! Loki share with me a memory of a news paper headline, about a Professor Xavier, and his school for mutants, and how half the school had evacuated leaving another half and some teachers behind. It went on to talk about Xavier's abilities over the mind and how he was supposedly teaching other mutants to hone their abilities as well.

He is a mind reader Fallen Midnight Snow! What if Brother allows him near us and he figures everything out? No, that cannot happen. Never! We… We will have to apply more spells to protect both our mind from him.

Loki did not give me even a second before he was bombarding me with memories of books and spell and lessons, and demanding that I allow the magic to flow, and telling me were to direct it, and I could feel then that our minds working in sync, and by the end of lunch our minds are supposedly hidden behind an impervious wall of magic.

The questions resumed after Phil Coulson-who clearly had not noticed our spell casting from across the table- and I had finished eating, but instead of asking about me or my people he asked "So Mr. Snow, can you tell me how your people managed to capture Loki?"

And because Loki made no protest for this question- it is embarrassing, but not incriminating, as they think I am dead-, I answered with the truth "they did not truly capture him… he was injured and in need of a healer, when he arrived at the healing facility he passed out. My- uh, the souls did not recognize him and so they… healed him. And because they were worried about more human being in the city- they thought a human had hurt him- they inserted me to gain information."

"Did you see that?" came Widow's voice, "he dissociated himself for the other parasites. He was about to say "my people did not recognized him" but stopped and chanced it to "the souls did not.""

"Why do you think that is?"

"I'd say that it's Loki and he's tricking us, but then it would have been the other way around-trying to associate with them- and he wouldn't have stuttered at all."

But Phil Coulson made no indication that he heard the others and asked "so if it wasn't any human that hurt Loki, how did he get injured? And couldn't he have just healed himself?"

Do you want me to tell them what you were doing? It will make you look bad.

At this point I died a criminal and Thor still- he still loves me. I care not what the mortals think.

"He was looking for a staff, a very powerful staff- befor all of the soul's colonization actually- and the dwarves were in position of it. When he went for it, in a vault, hellhounds were set upon him, and chased- they chased him though Yggdrasill. They hurt him really horrible. So he came to Midgard- to Earth-, he did not know we had come, and my- the healer inserted me to get the information he did not actually poses."

"The dwarves set hellhounds upon Loki?!" We hear Thor shout in outrage. "They will pay for such actions!"

There is surprised satisfaction in Loki's thoughts, like if he could he would sit up a little taller and smiling smugly.

"What did you tell them?"

…

"I told them who my host was, and they knew who Loki was, they still had the mortals reports of his invasions. The seekers did not need me after that-" I said, leaving out the part about Loki's yelling "-and I was escorted to Mr. Stark's tower with the others. I cannot remember anything of Loki's adulthood though, just his childhood, and bits and pieces of him being here." I add, trying to add that in before he asked, just to get it out there. Make sure they knew I did not know anything.

"Really? You can't see your host's memories? Is that normal?"

Why did you say that, did I not already tell you to only answer what you were asked!? And I do not like how he refers to me as "your host". That is just rude.

"No, it is not." I'd been doing a well enough job of keeping my head up, if into keeping eye contact with Phil Coulson, but here was where I put my head down in shame. With my friend in the tower, I had never been concerned about Loki's blocking me- in the beginning, I did not need the information, and after the first attach, Loki told me anything I wanted to know ( all the stories of the worlds, all the happy ending, ect..), but now with the humans, I feared they would think too much into it, and would pry and corner me- and I would try to lie- and they would know- and- and they would hurt me- and-

Stop! You. Are. Fine. We will have our shield if they come at us. Finish your answers.

"But I can see glimpses. Like with Human-Clint having heart, and when Volstagg said "silver toungue turned to lead?" on the bifrost, and when Thor was on the quinjet in germany. I think that's really it-all I remember. And then just kid stuff, like king of Asgard and "count to ten Loki" and sneaking around to avoid training. My healer thought is might be a spell. One that Loki places on his mind." Loki reminded me that Healer Calms the Spirit had though a spell was why Loki was still around, and Loki was now telling me to tell them that. Was I learning how to lie? It made me feel sick to think about it.

"Loki's magic? And you can't just get rid of it yourself?"

Corner! Corner! He is trapping you in a corner! I thought to myself.

"No…" there was a pause.

"He's been answering is full sentences this whole time. We must've hit something, keep asking about his magic Coulson." Steve Rogers commanded.

"But surely you can do some Loki's magic, the shield stayed up even while you slept, I'd say that was a pretty impressive display of magical control."

"Just some."

That was luck, it staying up, with the way our mind work together… Loki informs me.

What? You said it would stay!

I lied, we needed to sleep, and you do not notice my lies when you are upset. I cannot promise it will never happen again, but know that I am looking after us, and that I will do nothing to lead you to harm Fallen Midnight Snow.

His words seemed sincerer enough, but it still worried me that he could lie…what if he was lying and leading me into danger? But I did not have the time to think on my worries.

"It's just luck. The shield, when the Iron Man and Br-Thor came, and Soul-Clint...yeah." I stuttered over my words now on purpose like Loki and I agreed, like he was coaching me through, so I gave them enough to draw their on conclusions, without lying. But it was still making my stomach turn to being doing it, and to people who are master liars themselves.

"Soul-Clint?"

"The soul who came as a seeker kept Human-Clint's name, so I just differentiate like that in my head." I looked back up at him.

"Speaking of seekers," he changes the subject, was this how interrogations worked? Just asking random question whenever you thought them up?

Maybe he is talking you in circles and he already had this segues planned out.

"Tell me what kind of weapons they posses, Mr. Snow."

This time it had not been a question. His did not ask if I could or would. He told me to. And weapons!? Souls do not use- well…

"Uuumm, for the uh, for the most part no soul would use a weapon at all, but I think every now and then a seeker may have a gun on them- but mostly I think you would just corner you and use the sleep spray, to knock you out." I rushed at the end. "I am sorry I am not a seeker, I do not really know…"

"That's just fine Mr. Snow."

"It's so weird to see Loki like this, all timid and eager to please… he's just a little marionette puppet for that soul- and I am never that kicked-puppy look on his face!" Came Mr. Stark's voice again.

Does that man ever shut up? Loki questions.

"Pull-string." Steve replied, his tone suggesting it was a random comment he had not meant there to be much thought about, but after a brief pause, "a pull-string puppet." He clarifies. "A marionette had the strings on the outside, but a pull-string puppet, it's like a big hand puppet with the strings on the inside- I'm sorry Thor, that was rude of me, I shouldn't have said anything."

"It is quit alright my friend. I know you meant no disrespect for my brother."

There was an awkward silence from them now.