"Well, thank you for voicing your concern, ladies," Jennie patiently smiled to the two haughty village women that had come to complain that 'the local fountain water is not as sweet as it once was'. "If you're so adamant that there is something we can do about your tastebuds, then we will be sure to do so as soon as possible." Both the irritable looking women gave her a stiff nod and left without so much as a thank you. Jennie groaned and buried her head in her hands once they had gone, in complete disbelief at the fact that people could be so miserable.

Suddenly, Christie skidded in, her white cotton cloak already off and her hair now hanging loose as she speedily pattered to the other side of the hall. "Well thank you, Princess, for finally gracing us with your presence," Jennie muttered moodily at the sight of her.

"Sorry, I was dragged down to Midgard with Thor," Christie explained quickly whilst rushing over to the large mahogany wardrobe and quickly peeling off her signature white catsuit. She replaced it with her ivory floaty fabric dress instead, which felt much more comfortable and lighter - before turning to see that Jennie's mouth was now hanging open in shock. "…What?"

"You can't just spring that up on me like it's NORMAL!" Jennie yelped, sounding quite hurt. "And thanks for the invite, by the way!" Christie rolled her eyes and waved her off.

"First of all, why would you even want to go? We didn't go and see any of S.H.I.E.L.D - we just went to pick up Jane and then came straight back," she assured her quickly. "Secondly - it wasn't even my trip, it was Thor's-"

"Wait, Jane? Who the hell is Jane?" Jennie blinked rapidly, now completely lost.

"Thor's girlfriend - keep up Jen," Christie answered as if it was obvious. Jennie nodded and carefully fell silent. After a few prolonged seconds, Christie turned to face her, noticing her sudden quietness. Then she realised. "Don't even go there," she groaned, "please, don't."

"What?"

"You like him, don't you?" Christie winced. For a second, Jennie looked like she was going to deny it - but instead ended up nodding in defeat.

"I mean not seriously, but I just find him utterly delectable! I mean you can't really blame me, he's gorgeous," she explained with a wistful look on her face.

"No, I can't blame you - but I can remind you that you've got Sif in that same queue," Christie scoffed, now fixing her hair. "Honestly, what is it with you liking men that have dangerous assassinating women surrounding them?" Jennie burst out laughing and rolled her eyes. They both knew the crush was just something she'd have to get over - she would never really want to end up with Thor.

"You're so mean to me sometimes. But pray, do tell - why does Thor have his ladyfriend up here and how did Odin allow it? And if she's here to work in the kitchens, you can literally forget it. I'm not training anymore Midgardian women. Far too much hard work if you ask me." Christie gasped in mock offence, still brushing out her long wispy locks.

"Now who's being mean? According to Thor, she's got something within her and it's making her do weird things…so I'm guessing they're going to do an exorcism or something to get it out of her? Sounds familiar, right?" she mumbled, causing Jennie to let out a knowing noise of agreement. Christie checked her reflection in the mirror, found herself pleased with what she saw, and then began to rush over to the doors to leave once more. But this time Jennie hopped up immediately, stepping down the few marble throne steps and then running after her.

"Really, Annerledes? You're really going to leave me here again?" Jennie called, her dark chestnut hair catching the wind.

"Well come with me then!" Christie shouted back, already halfway out the palace and sweeping her way through the courtyard. Jennie didn't really like the unspoken explanation but followed her regardless - the FOMO clearly had her in a chokehold. Christie slowly paced across the crunchy gravel until she got to a metal barred door. She slowly produced a small dagger from her sleeve and slipped it into the lock, slicing it open.

"I swear, Asgard may be all mystical and fancy, but picking a lock is clearly universal," she muttered under her breath as she pulled the confused Jennie in shut the door behind them. It was pretty much pitch black inside, so Jennie was unsure of where they were.

"Why are we in the basement? And why didn't you use a main entrance?" she finally broke the silence, just as the sound of Christie striking a large match against the wall cut through the air. She created a small flame which she then dropped on top of something in front of them. Jennie squinted down at it, soon recognising that it was a large cauldron on wheels. Immediately, the area they were in was soon illuminated by a gentle orange glow.

"Let's go," Christie whispered, pushing the cauldron so that it lit the hallways as they walked.

"Hello? Annerledes, what on earth is going on?" Jennie repeated, now sounding a little anxious. "You are freaking-"

"Just shut up for a second, Jen - if we get caught we'll have way too much to answer for," Christie whispered irritably. She was trying to zen herself out before being in the same vicinity as him, and all the persistent questions weren't helping whatsoever.

…

Loki sat in his cell all alone and, as usual, very bored. He knew he was tired, but he didn't want to sleep because in his mind, gods never slept.

And he was a god, was he not?

So he spent his days lying on his bed without the covers pulled over him, and staring up at the pure whitewashed ceiling of his cell whilst contemplating life. He, of course, hadn't forgotten Christie. In fact, every few nights before he finally passed out from exhaustion, he attempted to reconnect his mind with hers - but he just couldn't get past the mental barrier she had put up, no matter how hard he tried. Sometimes he would strain so hard that it made him feel physically sick. He knew full well that she was still in Asgard because his mother had told him as much, so knowing she was so close yet so far was driving him insane.

All he wanted was to see her again. He had so much to explain, so much to apologise for.

Suddenly, he heard the hallway door to the right of his cell creak open, which it hardly ever did at this time of night. His mother came to visit him every morning and of course the guards did their rounds, but they always used the main entrance, and he had memorised their schedule. But this was far too late for anyone.

So who could this be?

He swung his long legs off the bed, and paced a few uncertain steps to the large glass wall, peering into the darkness. "Hello? Who's there?" Loki called out slowly, crossing his arms across his chest. Almost immediately, the sound of his smooth voice triggered something within Christie from where she was hidden in the shadows, something dark and unrecognisable.

"Wait, that's Loki!" Jennie gasped suddenly, her eyes going wide in recognition. She genuinely looked terrified. "Loki…you…I…oh ANNERLEDES! You did NOT just drag me to this man's cell!"

"Hello?! I didn't drag you anywhere - I was going alone remember?!" Christie hissed back with wide eyes.

"Hell-" came Loki's call again - when suddenly, he collapsed straight onto the floor, absolutely rinsed from exhaustion. Christie gasped at the sound of his body thudding against the floor and immediately ran out of her hiding place, squinting at the sudden harshness of the brightly lit cells. Jennie walked after her at a regular pace, still looking quite hesitant. She took one look at the passed out Loki and just rolled her eyes.

"Annerledes, please - let's go back. This is against all forms of protocol - you do this and I get banished and you get sent back to Midgard," she hissed, tugging on her arm so they could leave.

But Christie found herself frozen in the spot, staring at Loki in wonder with a hint of longing.

She hadn't seen him for an entire year, and even though his eyes were closed and he was somewhat unconscious, he was still incredibly beautiful to her. How on earth, or on Asgard, had he stayed so perfect after everything? In fact, he looked even better than he did before. He looked a little older and the sharpness of his features had settled in instead of the softer face he had before. Now his stunning inky black hair was slightly wavy and his jaw was beautifully chiselled…he looked like a piece of art. He was her piece of art - and she hated those dreaded feelings bubbling back up again.

But then she felt a loud siren go off in her head as, to her horror, Loki's eyes slowly flickered open.

Something within her was telling her to leave, and to leave NOW.

There was a thick layer of silence as Loki slowly prised his eyes open again, and Christie let out a sharp gasp of surprise whilst Jennie groaned to herself and squeezed her eyes shut. She pressed herself next to a wall, knowing that at this stage it was almost pointless to even attempt to drag Christie away. Loki couldn't move properly, his breathing was laboured and he tried to heave himself off the floor but couldn't quite do it - his body was still too weak.

Suddenly, it was like a light had been switched on in his mind. He raised his head and immediately made eye contact with her for the first time in the year.

He clearly wasn't expecting her to be standing there through the glass, and it startled him.

"Annerledes please! Let's go," Jennie hissed from afar.

But then, something in the air changed. Every piece of furniture in Loki's cell suddenly began to vibrate and Christie started to hear that dreaded white noise fade in again. She hadn't heard it for so long that she'd forgotten what it felt like, but now she remembered it all too well. She clamped her hands over her ears, desperately trying to shake it off, as the ground that she stood on began to shake too. Loki's breathing rapidly increased, and he suddenly he let out a yelp of either surprise or pain.

So he could feel it too this time.

The lights started flickering around them, both in the cell and out of it. Jennie swore under her breath and felt herself start to panic as she hung on to the closest thing to her.

"CHRISTIE!" she snapped over the heavy rattling. "COME ON!" But Christie found that even though she was in immense pain, she still couldn't break eye contact with Loki, and he certainly couldn't break his with her.

She wasn't surprised at her lack of control, though.

Since landing back in Asgard, Christie had to deal with a mix of emotions: anger, sadness, relief, love, rejection, and so on. Loki hadn't paid any attention to her and he hadn't requested her presence once, which was borderline understandable; but that feeling of being unwanted by the man she adored, merged with being forgotten as a child, had equalled a hellish result within her. Her heart had become even more bruised - but the reason she couldn't pull herself away from Loki's gaze, was because this was the only person that ever even attempted to understand her.

For Loki, it was equally as clear as to why he couldn't stop staring too. Being imprisoned for a year with nothing but his lonely thoughts, and even his mother's visits didn't help his sanity. He knew there was only one person that he wanted to see again and now there she was standing in front of him. There was so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to do, yet he couldn't bring himself to do anything apart from stare at her in complete awe. Both their minds had originally fit together perfectly like the pieces of a puzzle - therefore when they disconnected it was like they lost a piece of themselves.

So really, it was no surprise to either of them that as soon as they were within a suitable radius, they'd subconsciously try to connect as soon as possible.

Christie finally focussed through the pain enough to notice that Loki had stopped yelling, and was now taking deep breaths in. She knew what was about to happen. He was about to try and reconnect properly.

"NO LOKI DONT!" she shouted quickly, shaking her head and suddenly squeezing her eyes shut so he couldn't look at her. "STOP!" Jennie felt the vibrations get harder and she groaned heavily, now nervously glancing behind her. She didn't understand how nobody around could see or hear what was happening, though. It was carnage from where she stood - where were all the guards?

"Annerledes...I..." Loki finally spluttered out loud. Christie bit her bottom lip and shook her head desperately, still not looking his way.

"Loki, I…I need to ask you something," she began shakily, now feeling weak under his intense gaze despite not seeing it. Weak in a good or bad way? She had no idea.

"I know what you're going to ask. I haven't," Loki swore to her as steadily as he could.

"Loki, I mean it. I need to know," Christie muttered whilst her palms started to sweat. "It's important-"

"I wouldn't lie to you, Christie," Loki told her calmly without so much as blinking. Christie finally looked back up at him and clenched her jaw.

"Yes Loki, you would," she whispered as her eyes welled up with unwanted tears. Loki opened his mouth to argue - but before he could, Jennie had staggered through the unsteady floor to make her way over to Christie. She grabbed her narrow shoulders and firmly shoved back out of the small hallway door, breaking their connection once more.

Everything stood still as soon as she left, and Loki was on his own again, panting over the shock of what had just happened.

"What…did you…do that…for?" Christie hyperventilated as Jennie persistently shoved her through the dark damp corridors and back outside. Her breathing was rigid and her head was hurting so much that she could barely stay upright, just like that time before.

"Are you serious?! Crazy things were happening, everything was shaking and you couldn't look away from him! It's a wonder you both didn't make any noise! Thank the gods the guards didn't react to the rattling - in fact, where were they?!" Jennie almost whisper-screamed out of both rage and relief once they had burst back into the Palace courtyard again.

"What...?" Christie suddenly frowned. She stopped walking for a second. "I was screaming at him because it was painful as hell - h-how did you not hear that? We literally had an entire conversation just now!"

Jennie let out a small amused laugh, unsure whether she was joking or not.

"You didn't say anything out loud, Annerledes - trust me," she scoffed, dragging her by her elbow and leading her through the second set of doors and back into the golden palace corridors. "Whatever you thought you said out loud, must've been in your head."

"But I heard him too! So…if nothing was said out loud that means that we're…" Christie trailed off, feeling so spacious and out of touch with reality that she now assumed she was dreaming.

"YUP! You've officially reconnected with the psychopath. But that's what you wanted, wasn't it?" Jennie asked mockingly, flicking back her wavy toffee brown hair. She gave her a small curtesy before flouncing to her own quarters, clearly in a rage. Christie only then realised that the door she was standing outside of was in fact hers. She took out her key and opened it wearily, slowly mooching inside to take off her robes, tie up her hair and collapse into bed, throwing the feathered duvet over her head.

…

Seeing Loki again was clearly a challenge.

Christie's early life consisted of her being ignored; ignored by her mother, her father and even her sister. That hurt, and she was tired of feeling hurt, so she taught herself to cut off the emotion and allowed the coldness to be used as a barrier - hence her success as an assassin.

But then Christie came to Asgard found hope and comfort in someone that had the same experience - Loki.

He was treated somewhat similarly by his father, so it was so easier for her to let all those bottled emotions out, as he understood. More to the point, he clearly had some sort of positive and progressive effect on her, as she could literally feel herself begin to open up with him. She could easily admit that she was happier, her mind was healthier, she registered her feelings as and when they came instead of suppressing them for years at a time. Yet the one time in her life that she allowed herself to feel something real, raw and unfiltered - it all fell apart. That's why between Manhattan and this point, she had constantly worked on shutting herself down again.

It was just…easier.

These were all the thoughts running through her mind as she fell into a deep sleep - before she was abruptly awoken by a series of high pitched screams down the hallway.