It was strange how a hospital room could be both buzzing with activity, and still have a sense of sterile tranquility over it. Everyone was busy as the young girl's eyes fluttered open. There was only Thor, Dr. Cho, and a few other hospital workers. Thor only stayed, because Dr. Cho was engaging in very animated conversation with him, all the while discreetly fangirling over being in his presence.
At first, no one noticed that she was awake. That is, not until she spoke. "Uncle?" She murmured feebly.
That was when time froze.
All eyes turned to the frail young woman on the gurney, her eyes, wide and green, too big for her thin face locking with Thor's. "I beg your pardon?" Thor blurted.
"Uncle Thor." She repeated, struggling to sit up. "Y-You grew your hair out…"
"Miss, please lay down." One of the nurses insisted. "We don't want you to hurt yourself…"
"Where am I?" She demanded, her voice, feeble though it was, carrying a commanding demand none dared refuse. Her accent was similar to Thor's or Loki's, and she held herself in a way that spelled royalty.
"You're in the Triskellion, Miss." Dr. Cho smiled. "Washington D.C."
"Midgard?" Her eyes widened even further.
Dr. Cho and Thor shared a glance. "…Yes."
Thor, realizing she was most likely of Asgard, knelt down next to her bed. "My Lady, could you tell us your name?"
She frowned in what seemed to be hurt amazement. "You d-don't know me?"
Silently, he shook his head.
"I'm Crystal." She whispered, obviously feeling betrayed. "Your favorite n-niece."
"My niece?" Thor echoed in disbelief. "But… Loki has no children! He's not even married!"
Crystal blinked in confusion, before a light of understanding dawned on her face. "What… what year is it?" She asked, her voice small.
"2014." Dr. Cho answered.
At that, the girl slowly wrapped her arms around her middle, her eyes widening as she stared vacantly off into inner space. She began trembling, and gently, carefully, so as not to jar her mending bones, Thor wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "What's the matter, Lady Crystal?" He asked kindly.
"I was born in 2027." She whispered. "I was just trying to… I was just trying to get away, not put myself thirty years into the past!"
"There, there…" Thor murmured, having decided the girl was delirious. "It'll be alright. Calm down, deep breaths."
Miserably, the woman covered her face with her hands, attempting to comply, but all that came out were shaky, hysterical sobs. "I wanna go home…" She whimpered, as she buried her face in Thor's shoulder. The Thunderer was quite at a loss, until Dr. Cho discreetly put more sedatives into Crystal's IV. She was asleep in a moment.
"Can it be true?" Thor breathed in confusion, as he stood up, laying the frail girl's head back against the pillow. "Loki's daughter?"
"Probably not." The doctor shook her head. "She hit her head pretty hard, with that fall, and she's been going through very rough times before it. She doesn't know what she's saying."
Thor furrowed his brow. "But Loki told me the portal was nearly identical to one of his own make."
Dr. Cho shrugged helplessly. "I don't know anything about portals. But there's no way she's from thirty years in the future."
"Isn't there?" Thor frowned. "I must speak to my brother about this."
With that, he blundered out of the hospital ward, and towards the elevators.
Nearly five minutes later, Crystal awoke, again, her eyes immediately scanning the room for her uncle. Don't freak out this time, she instructed herself, her hands curling into fists. She had to be strong to get answers. "Pardon me, healer." She spoke up. Every time she spoke, it amazed her how ragged her own voice sounded. It must be from thirst, or maybe how she really hadn't spoken much in the last six months save to scream.
"You're awake, again?" Dr. Cho's eyes widened. "Already?"
"I suppose my body's stronger than your sedatives." She suggested with a small smile. "They were made for Mid-Midgardians, yes?"
Hesitantly, she nodded.
"That explains it, then." Crystal smiled, trying to be helpful. "My bone and tissue density are far higher than that of any Midgardian. If you want me to stay asleep for longer, you'll have to put a higher d-dosage in."
She blinked in surprise. "Then… you're from Asgard?"
"Not exactly…" Crystal admitted. "My mother was. My father's Jotun. Is… Is he here? May I see him, please?"
"You mean Loki?" Cho raised an eyebrow skeptically. Eagerly, Crystal nodded. "He won't remember me, but it would be so good to see his face, again."
"I'm afraid not." Dr. Cho shook her head, and decided to at least somewhat humor the girl. "Your father's working on something else, something very important. He is an Avenger, you know. He's very busy."
"I see." Crystal sighed, and glanced down at her mangled fingers, wrapped in tape, and set for healing. "When will he be finished?"
"It's hard to tell." Dr. Cho sighed. "Here, let me take a little blood…"
"What for?" Surprisingly, Crystal held out her arm compliantly.
Dr. Cho gave a short explanation, one that was obviously a lie, but Crystal didn't mind. She'd find out the truth when they let her see her father, again. Absent-mindedly, she wondered what he'd look like, thirteen years prior to her birth. She'd seen pictures, but that wasn't exactly the same. The thought occurred to her that this was before he had even met her mother.
A giggle escaped her lips at the thought of her father as a bachelor, living in Stark Tower as an Avenger. He'd told her he was far different, before he married, but she'd never exactly understood how. It was strange, imagining him before her mother. The two of them had been inseparable before her death, and afterwards, his heart had been broken, and he'd devoted his everything to her.
It would be odd, seeing him before her mother's hand even touched his life.
Eventually, the healers left the room one by one, until she was left alone in the sterile white room. The steady beeping of her heart monitor was soothing, relaxing, even, as she lay there, yearning for familiar company.
In the silence, she began to think, and thinking was never a good thing. Six months, she'd been trapped inside the Sanctuary, six months of constant agony. At long last, it was over, she was safe, but her body was still prepared to be broken, again, just as soon as it had healed.
Don't. Think.
It was hard. Harder than letting her mind surf on the waves of painful memory. But letting her mind go down that road would never be a good thing. Before she knew it, she'd be dissolving into a panic attack, and their beatings would redouble…
No.
She wasn't there.
They wouldn't beat her any longer. She didn't know what would happen if she got an attack, but it couldn't be good. Breathe.
Where was her father, anyway? What could he be doing? Had her uncle left to fetch him? The healer had told her that this was the Triskellion, in… Washy-tongue dee-see, and from the stories her father told, she knew he had lived in Stark Tower, in New York.
How far was Washy-tongue dee-see from New York? Maybe they were a whole kingdom away. How long would it take for her father to arrive?
Would she be alone for weeks? Months? She couldn't bear that. Miserably, she wiped at her eyes with a bandaged hand, and bit back a shudder. Stay calm, Crystal. He would be here soon enough.
TheOnlyHuman.