Time seemed irrelevant to Loki. He didn't know how long he had been in the dungeons for, nor did he count. Instead he found himself often reading, sleeping and conversing with his mother when she came to speak with him. He would sit on his bed and listen to her tell him about her day and how Thor and Ella were. Loki would remain silent. He pretended to ignore her, but there was an ache inside of him. An ache that he could not get rid of and he hated himself for admitting it.

It was only as he turned the page of a book about the history of Asgard did he hear a noise in his cell. Looking up from the seat he sat on, Loki's brows arched at the sight of the figure in his cell. Somehow she had managed to knock over his table, the books falling to the floor. She grunted in annoyance before picking them up and placing them on the table again.

"I thought mother said that I could not touch things?" she mumbled and Loki stood up from his chair, looking to his sister as she finished placing the books back. "Clearly I am better than she thinks."

"Ella," Loki spoke her name and she turned to look to him, her lips pursed as she went to sit in the chair he had just stood up from. "How are you here?"

"It isn't just you who can learn magic," Ella informed him. "Mother has been teaching me for weeks. I only know how to project, but that is all I want to know. Thor, on the other hand, has been teaching me how to fight."

Loki looked amused then as he wandered to his bed and sat down. His sister curled into the chair, her legs underneath her as she rested her elbow on the armrest, her hand holding her chin.

"Thor is teaching you how to fight?" Loki enquired of her.

"He is not exactly teaching me as he would others."

"You are his sister. I doubt he would." Loki managed to respond and Ella did nod her head. It took another moment before Loki finally gathered the courage to ask her what he wanted to ask her, his voice clear and coherent as he watched her closed her eyes for a moment. "Why are you here, Ella?"

She opened her eyes again and met his gaze, shrugging her shoulders as she moved her hands from her chin, lacing her fingers together and dropping them onto her lap. Loki watched with intrigue as she completed the motion, wondering if she intended to answer his question. She took her time, but finally she found the words she wanted.

"Because I wanted to see you," she responded to him with a shrug. "I have no fancy answer or explanation. I have no logical reasoning. It is simply because I finally wanted to see you."

"Finally?" Loki queried.

"I have spent the past months wanting nothing to do with you after our last conversation on Midgard."

"Has it truly been that long?" Loki wondered of her. "I trust you have not been back to Earth? The Bifrost must nearly have been restored by now, however. No doubt you will be there as soon as it is."

Ella took her turn to look confused at what she was hearing. Loki chuckled darkly, folding one leg over the other, his hands holding onto his thigh as he leant forwards, bending at the waist slightly. It took another moment before she spoke.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," she informed him.

"The soldier," Loki said and Ella shook her head as Loki continued to speak. "I saw the way you were looking at him and I saw the way he looked at you. Do you think me blind?"

"I think you have lost your mind," Ella responded with a snort, rolling her eyes at hearing him and uncurling from the chair. Moving to her feet, Ella placed her hands behind her back and began wandering around the cell.

"I think you are in denial," Loki responded. "I know all about the soldier, Ella. I had Clint give me his file when I was on Earth. Do you know how he went down with the tesseract? He was on ice for decades…lost everything…his best friend…the woman he loved…and then he found someone else. He found someone who was as lost on his planet as he was."

Ella shook her head. "You have no idea what you are talking about," she said to him. "I merely spoke with Steve and he…he was the only one who showed me any notion of conversation. That does not mean that I am madly in love with him."

"I should hope not," Loki responded. "He is a mortal."

"Correction, he is a super soldier," Ella said. "And we are not having this conversation, Loki. Steve was pleasant to me. I know that notion is slightly foreign to you."

"Pleasantries are a waste of time."

"Well, maybe you should learn them. You have a lot of time to waste down here," Ella responded and leant her back against the back wall of the cell.

Loki let out a low whistle. "I feel that was uncalled for, dear sister. Perhaps I might rot down here, but what are you truly doing up there?"

"I am not rotting."

"You spend your days going about the same boring routine," Loki said. "You train, you practice with mother and you argue with father. You are stuck in as much a rut as I am down here."

"Just that I am allowed to do that all in open space," Ella responded.

"Although I suspect if Odin discovered you were here then he might confine you," Loki declared. "Has mother truly kept your appearance a secret from him?"

Nodding her head, Ella chewed down on her bottom lip before glancing to the floor. It took her a moment before she looked back up and over to him, her eyes wide and he swore she saw them watering.

"Father has not spoken to me in months," Ella informed him. "I have not spoken to him either, but…I…I am still angry with everything that he said and everything that he has done. He refused to apologise or acknowledge how I feel. Mother has also been very annoyed with him as of late."

"He informed me how I only live because of mother."

"That is one of the reasons why I am angry with him, but I do not wish to speak of him."

Loki's brow arched once more. "Then what is it you wish to speak of?"

Ella remained silent, moving from the wall and towards the chair, perching on the arm of it, her hands holding onto it tightly as she looked him in the eye. She continued to chew her lip before shrugging at him.

"I do not know," she admitted and Loki nodded once.

"You should leave, Ella," he spoke. "I do not wish for the Allfather to know that you are here."

"He will not."

"You can never be certain."

Ella frowned then. "Are you trying to push me away?" she wondered from him and Loki looked off to the side as he heard her.

He took a moment to gather his words, but he still struggled to speak them. "Ella, I never tried to push you away. I tried to keep you by my side. I wanted you to stay with me."

"You know that I could never have done that," Ella said. "And deep down I think that it wasn't what you wanted. You wished to rule, yes, but I saw you that day on Stark Tower. I saw the conflict inside of you when the Chitauri arrived. I think that you never meant for it to get that far."

"Then we shall have to agree to disagree," Loki responded.

Ella smirked. "Or you can stop living in denial?" she suggested.

Loki chuckled once. "You always think you are right."

"Because I usually am when it comes to you," Ella said and Loki let his gaze move back to hers before moving to his feet and stepping closer towards Ella. He stood close to her, knowing that if he touched her she would disappear. He had no idea how she had managed to knock over his books, but he knew that reaching for her would see her vanish and a part of him didn't want her to disappear.

"You truly think so?"

"I know so," Ella said. "I just wish you would admit it."

Ella was the one to move then, he hand going to Loki's, but it went straight through him. He watched on as she vanished before his eyes and he looked away, wondering what more he could do in the dungeon to wile his time away.

…

Ella ducked as Thor lunged at her, ducking underneath his arms until she managed to kick his back, watching him stumble forwards. Thor grunted at the strength from his sister's kick before turning back around to face her. He went to swing a punch at her, but she ducked once more, kicking him in the shin before standing up as Thor held up his hands.

"I yield," he informed his sister, noting how sweat had formed on her brow.

Ella rolled her eyes and adjusted her skirts around her body, grateful that her mother had commissioned a new outfit that was flexible enough for her to move around in when she was training with Thor.

"You are going too easy on me," she scolded her brother.

Thor chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. "I do not wish to hurt my little sister," he informed her.

"But there will people who might if a battle ever comes," Ella responded and Thor winced slightly.

"I do not wish to think of such a time," he informed her with a small shake of his head. "You are safe on Asgard and I would prefer for it to stay that way, alongside mother and father. Regardless, Ella, I want to know why you went to see him last night?"

Ella sunk down onto the stone bench besides Thor as she shrugged. "Mother has been teaching me magic and it felt like the right time. I just wanted to see him. As I told Loki, I do not have a deep reason as to why I went. I went because I could and because I wanted to."

Thor chuckled. "And that is that," he concluded for his sister and she smiled softly, shrugging her shoulders gently before moving to nudge Thor in the arm.

"I miss him," Ella admitted. "Just as we all do."

"I know," Thor said. "It seems as though you are missing a great many people these days."

Ella frowned, her brow furrowing as she heard him speak. "And who else am I supposed to be missing?"

"Steve Rogers."

Ella almost scoffed at that, moving to her feet and pushing her hands into her skirts as she began to walk away. But Thor was quick. He was by her side instantly, grabbing hold of her by the arm to stop her from running away as he felt a slight need to tease her.

"I went to look in on Jane and Heimdall informed me I had not been the only one visiting him," Thor said and Ella groaned lowly. "He said that you go to him every other day. I believe some may call that obsessive, sweet Ella."

Ella growled lowly at the back of her throat before looking up to her brother as they walked through the gardens. "I…he was nice to me on Earth. I just wanted to make sure he was well. You know how he was finding it difficult to adjust to the modern times."

"I do," Thor said, still teasing her as she did her best not to bite the bait. She rolled her eyes once more and looked up at Thor.

"I was just being nice," she said with a nonchalant shrug. "I know that is a novel concept to you."

"You wound me, dear sister," he joked with her.

"I doubt it, but-"

"-Thor!"

Ella almost groaned at the sound of the voices coming towards her. Looking to the Warriors Three and the Lady Sif, she saw a look of worry on their faces and Ella looked on with intrigue as the Lady Sif took lead of the conversation.

"It is Vanaheim," she spoke. "Marauders are pillaging. The Allfather wants us to go there immediately."

"Go ahead. I shall be there in a moment," Thor said and they dispersed from the gardens, heading towards the newly restored Bifrost. Turning to his sister, Thor bent down to peck her on the cheek. "Go and tell mother where I have gone. I shall be back soon."

"Be careful," she urged from him, kissing his opposite cheek.

"Always am," he said cockily and she watched him saunter off.

Heading indoors to find Frigga, Ella turned her head over towards the Bifrost, seeing it in the distance as Thor flew towards it. Chewing down on her lip, she thought back to their earlier conversation and, in particular, one man on Midgard who she could not get out of her mind.

…

A/N: Do let me know what you think!