A/N- I realize that I've been changing the case on Midgardian throughout the entire story, sometimes small m sometimes big M. Sorry about that! It has no significant meaning other than my lack of continuity!

A/N- Also I was reading some other fics and people have been calling Thor's mom Frigga. So am I wrong to call her Freya? Does it matter either way? I'm not sure what I should do about that.

Miriam felt like she'd been walking forever, trying to follow Loki's trail, though she never felt like she was getting any closer to wherever he could be. Finally, she spotted the outline of a town up ahead, and that inspired her to start moving faster. The Esperosians may be sort of primitive compared to many other people on many other planets, but that didn't mean they would have no place for a weary traveler to rest.

After a while she reached the outskirts of the town, and saw many of the purple aliens working on their farms. Most of them looked up and stared at Miriam as she walked past them, obviously curious about the presence of someone who was clearly not from their planet.

She got further into town, and looked around, trying to figure out where her connection to Loki was trying to lead her. She spotted an inn, and checked her pockets for any money. Now would be a good time to stop and rest. She had some Midgardian and Asgardian money on her, and wondered if either of those currencies would be accepted. There was only one way to find out.

Miriam walked into the inn, and went up to the front desk, where a nice young Esperosian was sitting and doing a crossword puzzle. She cleared her throat, and the alien looked at her with some surprise. "Oh! Um, can I help you?"

Miriam responded perfectly, sounding as though she'd lived on the planet her whole life. "I was wondering if I could rent a room for the night. But unfortunately I've only got money from other places. Would you accept either of these?" She pulled out some Midgardian coins, and then some Asgardian coins, and held them out.

The Esperosian, who was wearing a nametag pinned to his shirt that said R'lit, looked at the currencies curiously. "Sorry, but if you don't mind me asking, where are you from? We haven't gotten alien visitors in years, and there's been no news of any new ships landing anywhere."

Miriam shrugged. "Yeah, sorry, I came through a portal. Sort of by accident. I'm from a place so far and long gone that I'm sure you've never heard of it," she couldn't help sounding slightly sad at that. "But um, let's just say that I'm from Midgard."

R'lit nodded seriously. "I've heard of it. That's pretty far as well. Midgard has about the same space travel technology as we do here. But if you came through a portal that makes sense. Why are you here though?"

"I'm looking for a friend of mine. Jotun. Blue skin, red eyes, very broody. Have you seen him anywhere?"

R'lit shook his head regretfully. "No, sorry. It's going to be big news that you are here. If there were another far away alien here, I'd have heard about it. But as to your earlier query, I will take a couple of these silver coins in exchange for a room." He picked four American quarters out of her hands, and Miriam decided not to mention that that was only a dollar, and she was pretty sure that they weren't even made from real silver. She stuffed the rest of the money back into her pockets, and the Esperosian reached across the desk to hand her a key. "Here you go. Enjoy your stay, and I hope that you do find your friend soon. Your room is on the second floor, on the right."

Miriam nodded. "Thank you." She glanced at the symbol on the key, and searched the halls until she found the door with the same symbol on it. She put the key in and turned it, and was glad to see that it successfully opened. She went into the room, making sure to close the door behind her, and flopped down onto the bed.

After a few minutes, Miriam's stomach grumbled loudly, and she cursed the fact that she needed sustenance to survive. It wasn't fair. Though since there seemed to be plenty of excess food lying around Midgard, hopefully it would be the same here on Esperos, and she'd be able to find something to eat. At least the farming going on outside was proof that they did have food, which was relieving. Starving to death on an alien planet would be rather embarrassing.

As she left her room to go back downstairs and inquire about getting something to eat, she nearly bumped into someone else who was leaving their room. "Sorry, sorry." Then she looked up at the person she'd bumped into, and her eyes widened. "Lok-"

He quickly pressed one hand over her mouth, and dragged her back into the room he'd just walked out of. She could've gotten away, but she let herself be dragged. Loki shoved her away and then slammed the door to the room shut. "What the hell are you doing here?" he hissed.

Miriam couldn't help feeling hurt. It seemed as though Loki had intentionally left Asgard, and he hadn't wanted anyone to know where he was. She frowned. "I was trying to find you. I thought that you could be hurt, or worse. No one has any idea of where you are right now. They're worried sick about you. You have to come back with me."

Loki quickly shook his head. "Absolutely not. Do you think I would've come to this pathetic little planet if it weren't important? And I would have left a note if I wanted to be followed. How did you even find me here?"

Miriam sat down on the edge of the bed. "There was a portal under your bed, so I jumped through it. And why didn't the guy at the front desk mention that you rented a room when I specifically asked about you? I would've known if he was lying about having seen you, so I don't understand."

Loki sighed, and stared down at Miriam. "I can disguise myself, remember? It's just never worked on you because you 'see the truth'. As far as anyone here is concerned, I'm just another Esperosian, from a different town, who's here on business. And they're not suspicious at all. I can't have you blowing my cover. Just go back to Asgard or Midgard or wherever."

Miriam crossed her arms over her chest. "But what are you doing here? What business could you possibly have in this primitive place? And why wouldn't you want anyone to follow you? And I've been searching for your mind all day but I've never felt like I was getting any closer. Are you blocking your mind? But why? Seriously, what's going on here?"

Loki ran one hand through his hair, then sat down next to Miriam. "Look, I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but I'm in the middle of something pretty important here, and I can't have you getting in the way. What I'm here for is none of your business. If I wanted you here I would've said something before leaving."

A sharp sting came, and felt like it was stabbing Miriam right in the chest. So Loki had left of his own free will, and had chosen to not say anything to Miriam. Apparently he'd never thought of her as a friend the way she'd thought of him. She pressed her lips together in a flat line for a moment before responding. "Well I am far older than you can even comprehend, and I can go wherever I want, which means that if I want to stay on this dump, that's up to me. You can be here on your business, and I'll be here on mine."

Loki rolled her eyes at her stubbornness. "I'd really appreciate it if you could just go back home."

Miriam raised one eyebrow. "That might be a little difficult since my home was blown into millions of pieces long before even your father was born."

"You know what I meant."

Miriam shook her head. "If I want to stay on Espero, then that's up to me, and I'm choosing to stay. If you'd really wanted to be left alone, you could've at least left a quick note saying that you were going. You wouldn't even have to say where or for how long. Just a memo that you're leaving on your own, and people wouldn't be so worried."

Loki seemed a bit taken aback by that. "Were you worried?"

Miriam scoffed. Of course she'd been worried! Why else would she have gone through so much effort to find him? But he clearly didn't care about her, so it didn't matter how worried she'd been. "Of course not. Why would I be worried about you? You can obviously take care of yourself. I was just trying to find you because it was getting really annoying to see Thor moping around everywhere."

Loki's eyes flashed with hurt at that, but Miriam didn't care. Caring about other people was a deadly trap that could only end in a broken heart, and Miriam had experienced enough of those for ten thousand lifetimes. She'd cared about her adopted parents, though they'd only been using her as a political tool. She'd cared about her birth parents, though they'd ditched her and Ar'iaal as though it were nothing. She'd cared about Ar'iaal more than she could've ever thought possible, and he'd left her the moment things got a little bit tough. And then she'd been stupid enough to care about Loki, who'd never cared about her in return. He was just another person who wanted to get away from her as soon as possible.

Well, Miriam had learned her lesson. She'd opened her heart, and been hurt for it every single time. She abruptly stood up. "You know what? You're right. I should just go. I won't tell anyone where you are. I won't tell anyone what a dick you are." She started towards the door, and Loki reached out to grab her arm.

"Wait. I- I can't tell you what I'm doing here. But if you read it from my mind, then that wouldn't be my fault."

Miriam narrowed her eyes. "'Wouldn't be your fault'? What are you talking about?"

He lifted her arm up so that her hand was touching the side of his head. "Find out for yourself. Please."

Miriam wasn't sure if it was some kind of trick. What was Loki trying to get at? If what he was doing was so private that he couldn't say, why would he be able to show it? Well, there was only one way to find out for sure. She sat back down next to him. "If I see anything I don't like, I'll be out of there before you can even blink."

Then she closed her eyes, and slipped into his mind, being a little rougher than necessary. It was time to see what was going on.

Loki was in his private workshop that branched off from his bedroom. He was sitting at his desk, flipping through the pages of an old book. He looked fascinated by whatever he was reading.

He was interrupted by the soft sound of footsteps against stone, and he looked up slowly, having trouble tearing his eyes away from his reading material. "Just come in instead of making a loud distraction." He thought it was just Miriam. There was no response, and Loki slowly stood up. He stared at the doorway. "Mother? Is that you?" There was still no answer.

Loki's whole body began to tense up as he realized that there was obviously something strange going on. He took a few steps back, and he bumped right into someone who was standing behind him. "Well, if you're just going to invite me right in, I may as well take you up on that." The voice was a deep growl, and completely unfamiliar. A moment later, everything went black.

,,,

When Loki opened his eyes, he was aware of a pounding headache, and the fact that his arms were being held up above his head in a rather uncomfortable position. His first thought was to use some magic to escape, but he found that he was unable.

There was a cruel chuckle from in front of him, though he couldn't see who was there because they were standing in the shadows. "Guess that little rat was right. Some of the right materials mixed together, and you're useless. What's the point of a pathetic creature like yourself if you become so worthless without your magic?"

Another voice rang out from somewhere out of sight. "Hey! Leave the prisoner alone! You know that Thanos wanted to speak with him in person. And with the least amount of injury we can manage."

The first voice sounded slightly disappointed. "I was looking forward to getting a few drops of blood on the ground. But I guess that can always wait until after Thanos is done with him." He walked closer to Loki, revealing a large man in dark robes, a hood covering his face. He fiddled with Loki's restraints for a moment, then dragged him away from the hall. Loki tried to get to his feet, but his captor was moving too fast, and he kept stumbling forward and getting dragged across the ground on his knees.

After making their way through what looked like a large stone maze, they went through a very big set of double doors, and the hooded man shoved Loki forward onto the ground.

A loud, deep voice spoke, sounding angry. "I told you that there would be consequences if you were to be defeated on Midgard."

A shiver ran through Loki as he saw his life flash before his eyes, and he slowly looked up at the one who'd arranged for this kidnapping, and saw-

Miriam jerked herself away from Loki, looking like she'd just been burned. Loki furrowed his eyebrows. "Are you alright? You didn't even see my reason for being here."

Miriam got to her feet, looking slightly unsteady. "Thanos," she said softly. "That bastard." She clenched her hands into fists, not caring when her fingernails dug into her palms and broke the skin there. "I believe you," she muttered, still looking like she was about to pass out. "The others have told me about when you attacked Midgard, and Thor has told me why. This is like that again."

Loki nodded hesitantly. "I can't really say. If I could, I swear I'd tell you. If you want to know the exact details or-"

Miriam shook her head. "No, no that's alright. I believe you. I believe you. I just don't- I can't- I just-" She shook her head again. "I believe you," she said again.

Loki looked at Miriam with serious concern. "Are you alright? You're the one who was going into my mind. If anyone's going to get messed up from it, it should be me, but I still feel fine. So what happened? What's wrong with you?"

Miriam looked down at the floor. "Thanos. I-" She gulped, and didn't say anything else.

"I know that that used to be your name. Is that why you're so bothered? Do you truly find it so unnerving for a monster like him to share a name with you? Because there are lots of monsters and non monsters, and there are slightly less names, which means that they get used a lot. Are you so bothered by that?"

Miriam shook her head. "No. It's not that. It's not the name. Well it is, but the name is unimportant. He could take my name if he wants. That doesn't bother me. Well maybe it does a little bit. But that hasn't been my name in so long that it doesn't really matter anymore."

Loki stood up, ready to catch Miriam if she actually passed out, since she was swaying back and forth without even realizing it. "Then what is it? What's wrong? Why are you so upset?" A thought occurred to him. "You're really old. Thanos has to be pretty old himself. Do you know him? Is he someone you've met before?"

Miriam gulped, looking pale. She shook her head. "He isn't just someone. I'd know that face and that voice anywhere. He isn't just anybody. And he hasn't always had the name Thanos."

Loki gently guided Miriam to sit back down on the bed. "So who was he before he was Thanos?"

She shivered. "I can't believe he actually stole my name. That bastard. It's Ar'iaal."