The very next day, Eira was sitting at the side of her bed, staring at the opposite wall, completely emotionless. She was in no mood to do anything, to think, to speak, nothing.

If it was any other's death, and she was left with people that cared for her as well as she cared for them, she would have simply mourned for some days more, before she let it fade away.

But this case was different. She hadn't only lost her brother, but she had, as well, lost the last person that, the hope of him being alive, was giving her strength to keep going. She felt empty, all the signs of life having left her inside world.

Loki watched her closely. Her eyes were slowly turning back to their natural color, as the redness of the crying was fading away. Her look, was blank, with no emotion or signs of thought. Like her body was the only thing left of her.

He couldn't stand all this silence. Those few days that they had been sharing the same cell, he had got used to her, he even had grown to like the company of another person, thanks to her. And the feeling of her being there, when in reality she wasn't, was torturing him.

He moved to sit beside her, his full attention on her face, observing her. She didn't even glance at him. "You look better today. Your appearance covers any signs of crying."

It was a lie. One of the most idiotic ones, Loki had ever said. But he needed to say something, and she didn't react. He looked away for a moment, exhaling silently.

"If it means anything to you, there was nothing you could do to save him. He died while trying to save you. He died with honor. Nothing of this was your fault."He tried to sound serious and neutral, though he really wished that she would, at least, blink at his words.

Eira closed her eyes softly, like she was trying to block him from saying anything else. A silent tear ran down her cheeks from each closed eye. Loki softly turned her chin, to make her face him. She opened her eyes, when he did so.

"Stop that. Stop it." he whispered, whipping away her tears with his fingers. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't show softness or comfort to her, he barely knew her. So he didn't know what he could possibly say to calm her.

Eira stared in his eyes, as he was whipping away her tears. He was being so kind to her, like no one else in those nine years she had been living in Asgard. But he couldn't care for her. Not him. It was impossible. She was alone now, and nothing would change that.

Two days passed like this. Without tortures, smiles or a word from Eira. She was like a living dead, like she was in a coma, from which she could never wake up, or slip away from.

Loki had been stealing glances at her, having no idea what to do, but only feel bad for her. Those two days, she had barely eaten anything, and the only things she was doing was sleep, wake up and stare in the space.

The third day, Sif came in with two guards. Loki eyed her carefully, while Eira hadn't even showed that she had acknowledged her presence. This wasn't going to end up good.

"Ready for the restart of your previous routine, Eira? Unless, you want to give up the necklace and surrender." she said, a small smirk playing on her lips. Eira's eyes weren't even looking at her.

Sif's smirk fell immediately, replaced by anger. "So be it!" The guards got into the cell and grabbed Eira by the arms. As they chained her, Loki's grip on the book he was holding tightened.

The guards forced her on her knees, and she slowly raised her head to see Sif's stone-cold face. The warrior bent down to her eye-level, the blade of her weapon reaching under Eira's chin and between her neck and the necklace. Just when she was about to cut the necklace's chain, the stone released a red energy field, sending Sif and the guards flying on the walls.

Sif rose quickly to her feet and greeted her teeth. She glared at Eira, who was staring in the space. "Weaken her completely! Then we'll try again."

The guards started to hit her violently, fists and kicks landing on her tired, from crying, body. She barely hold herself on her knees, her reaction from the hits being only the squeezing of her eyes shut.

Loki was staring at the scene in front of him, knuckles white from the clenching of his fists, greeted teeth, eyes shooting fire and almost impossible to breathe. He felt like something was preventing him from swallowing, his stomach tying and untying itself with each blow. When she collapsed on the floor, the guards still beating her up, he couldn't stand it anymore.

"ENOUGH!" he yelled so loudly that he thought the whole realm had heard him. Everybody's heads shot up, staring at him in utter shock. Especially Eira was staring at him from the floor, shocked and somehow hopeful.

Her eyes drifted across his face, once he laid eyes on her. Could it be possible that he, somehow for an unknown reason, cared for her? Friendly or...No, it couldn't be. But, why had he stood up for her, if he didn't care at all? So, did that mean that he actually wanted her to be alright? Was there another person that she could trust then? If it was true, then she wasn't left alone. Friend or not, Loki had just tried to help her, which meant that she still had someone. She still had something...to make her keep going.

Sif looked between Loki and Eira, confused. When her eyes fell on the necklace, she saw with surprise that it was shining menacingly. She scoffed. It seemed that even exhausted, Eira could still use the necklace. "Put her in. We won't spend another minute with her, for now."

Eira was, oh what a surprise, thrown in the cell again, laying on the floor as the guards followed Sif outside. Eira didn't dare to move, her mind screaming to her for the previous event. She heard slow footsteps coming her way, turning her head to the side to see Loki's unreadable face staring down at her, as he smoothly kneeled beside her, placing an arm on hers and another around her waist, helping her up.

As he slowly removed his hands from her, she glued her eyes on him, demanding answers. "Why you helped me?"

Loki was a bit taken aback, not only from the question, but from the fact that she was talking to him after two days of silence, as well. Her voice was soft and tired, almost like a whisper. But her eyes were shining with a twinge of life once again. He regained his composure soon enough, though. "It's simply too callous and ignoble, even for me, to watch the torture of a woman who is mourning over her brother's death so loyally."

Eira cocked an eyebrow. Why did that guy have to be such a riddle? What was that supposed to mean? Whatever he wanted to say, he still had helped her. She gave a small grin. "Thank you, Loki."

He blinked once, searching in his mind his next move. It wasn't very common for him to be thanked by others. His face twisted a bit to a half formed grin, nodding his head at her. His grin dropped when he saw her face darkening. "What is it?"

"I just remembered . I have a promise to keep." she said, walking to her bed.

He frowned. "What?"

She turned to him, smiling. "I promised that I would get you out of here. And that's exactly what I'll do."

The guard crossed the long corridor of the dungeons, checking at every cell he was passing by. As he glanced in the last cell in the entrance of the dungeons, he saw something terribly wrong. There was only one prisoner.

"Where is she?!" he yelled, pointing his lance at Loki. The prince simply smiled, shrugging. The guard glared at him, cautiously opening the cell and entering it, to search for the goddess.

Loki's eyes followed the guard around the cell, seeing out of the corner of his eye Eira's smoke form, moving from the ceiling she had been hiding, out of the cell and behind a column.

Eira reformed back, once out of the cell. She created a doll, entering her body in it and taking Thor's form. As the guard came out of the cell, to go to sound the alarm, she came out of the shadows.

"Prince Thor! The goddess-" the guard's head was thrown against the wall, the hit knocking him out.

"I love the transformations." Thor's face smiled, his face changing back to Eira's. She smirked up at Loki, opening the door to the cell.

"Of all the people to take their form..." Loki walked out of the cell, a somehow disapproving smile on his face.

She chuckled. "I thought of teasing you around a bit."

They both went out of the dungeons, crossing the corridors with fast steps. The late hour of the night made it easier for them to slip around the palace unnoticed. When they would come across a guard, they would knock him out, Eira with her fans and Loki with his hands.

As they approached the main hall, they were practically tiptoeing. "I need to get my scepter. I heard Thor brought it-"

Eira pushed Loki against a column, her body close to his and a finger being the only thing separating their lips, in a 'silence' manner. Loki's eyes widened.

"Shhh, hush!" she whispered, both of them not moving a muscle as a group of four or five guards approached. Eira stared at Loki's eyes for a moment, till the guards passed beside them.

With a quick move, Eira turned into smoke, divided herself in three pieces and hit three guards, knocking them out. Loki attacked the other two, managing to detach their weapons and bang their heads together.

"You were saying something about a scepter." she stated, as she reformed back.

"My scepter. I heard that Thor brought it here, to examine its sphere. I need to take it back."

Eira glanced at the floor for a moment. "Did you use this scepter to attack Midgard?"

He hesitated. He knew Eira was against the things he had done to Midgard, but right now there was no point in lying. She wouldn't believe him. "Yes."

She shook her head, eyes on the floor. She exhaled. Loki could tell that she was a bit disappointed. "Alright, I'll get it for you."

Loki's eyebrows shot up. Had she just...? "Sincerely?"

She gave a small grin, before she transformed into smoke and slipped inside the corridors. "I'm right on my way. Meet me at the gates."

It had been five minutes after Loki had reached to the gates, when Eira appeared again. He looked at her, expectantly. "So, you have it?"

Eira waved her hands, making Loki's scepter appear out of nowhere, before handing it to him. "You doubtful?"

Loki caressed the scepter in his hands, his eyes shining. It somehow felt different in his touch, which Loki assumed, was because Thanos and the Other had abandoned the mind control through the scepter, probably thinking that he would never lay hands on it again. "A small one, yes."

She smirked. They both got into one of the flying boats, Loki driving it to where Eira was telling him to. They passed through the secret passage they both knew of, ending up to where Eira had wanted. Svartalfheim.

As they got out of the boat and started walking, Eira was stealing glances around them. "We've been followed."

She span quickly around, throwing one of her fans towards a big rock. The fan hit the girl behind it on the head, making her fall on the ground, as it returned to Eira's hand. "And that's our spy."

That's for now, hang in there as we are going to have a small fighting scene and big emotion, all in the next chapter!