"Victoria! Wake up!"

I frown sleepily, feeling someone shake me by my shoulders. Who the heck is that? I blink owlishly, my eyes adjusting to my surroundings, and I remember where I am. I sit up in my seat, Pride and Prejudice falling out of my lap onto the floor of the plane. I look up to see Clint staring down at me. "It's time to get off the plane," he says. I nod, yawning tiredly. Looking out the window, I see that it's very dark out. Good grief, it must be midnight! I reach down to grab the book I dropped, but my hand finds someone else's. I frown and sit up, realizing Loki had reached down to get the book for me. He sits up too, holding my- well, his- book. He flicks his wrist and sends it back to his bookshelf in NYC.

"Sorry," I say, my voice sounding gravelly from sleep. He shakes his head wordlessly, looking just as tired as I feel. We both get up and exit the plane, climbing into a waiting SUV. On the way to our hotel, I dose off, and Loki has to shake me awake again when we arrive. Finally, at a little after 3 a.m. German time, I collapse into a queen bed in my own room, not really caring where I am, so long as I can get some sleep.

The next morning, I awaken slowly, and decide not to get out of bed until I'm forced to, even though it's well past ten in the morning. The pillows are incredibly soft, and the bed feels like it's made of a giant marshmallow. I lay in bed comfortably, staring at the ceiling and thinking.

I can hardly believe this is happening. Here I am, lying in a queen bed in a luxury hotel, in Germany, going to a gala with the freaking god of mischief tonight. Who also happens to have been teaching me how to use magic and how to use weapons in a fight for a week. A week. A whole week in another world.

I don't understand. Why? Why would he want to train me? What does he see in me that I don't see in myself? I grew up as a "Midgardian" in another world- I am nothing like him. In fact, he and I are so different, and I annoy him so often, that he should consider me nothing more than a minor annoyance and possibly a slight help with my magic, at the very best. But he has warmed toward me over the past week, and has trained me patiently. I would never have thought him capable of that kind of patience, and I have never seen it displayed toward any other person- not in all the Marvel movies and not here, in this world. But then again, I have never seen him teach anyone anything, so perhaps this is how he always is when teaching people.

Maybe, teaching me magic reminds him of his mother. Yes, that must be it. She taught him all he knows, and heaven knows she had endless patience with him. I suppose he is copying her. It's so refreshing to see him like that, focused and gentle and, dare I say, almost kind. He never raises his voice at me, and never gets angry when I make a mistake, even though I have made many. I feel that we could have been great friends under drastically different circumstances. I've always liked his character, ever since I first watched Thor. But now he is so...real. My view of him has completely changed since we first met, and that was barely seven days ago. I had always held a certain pity for him, because I sympathized with his situation in so many ways. But now, I have a deep compassion for him. He is hurting, and is being controlled. If I were not bound by the words of Dr. Strange, I would do all in my power to break Thanos's hold over him, and to help him return to his home. Heaven knows I would do everything possible to restore him to good terms with his family, to stop the Chitauri invasion before it can begin, destroy the Space Stone before Thanos can get his hands on it, warn Tony about the Mandarin and Aldrich Killian, warn the Asgardian royal family of the attack of the Dark Elves, save Frigga from death...and so many other things. I would do all in my power to stop every evil thing from happening.

But I can't. I am stuck here, full of knowledge that cannot be released for fear of ruining the timeline. I must live with the knowledge of future disaster, and I am unable to do a thing about it. I cannot intervene, except in the background. That is how I will be forced to operate in this world. The one in the background, the extra onstage, a part of the scenery, and yet containing the potential to change the future. I will have to do my best to go unnoticed, to stay hidden. I won't be able to disclose my magical abilities to anyone. I will also have to move around, I cannot stay in one place for more than a couple of years, or people will notice that I do not age since I am Asgardian. Which would-

Knock knock.

"Who is it?" I call, quickly climbing out of the bed. I look down at myself, and raise an eyebrow. I'm still wearing my traveling outfit. I must have forgotten to change.

"It's Barton," I hear Clint call from the other side of the door. "The king wants to know if you are hungry."

His words seem to remind my stomach that it's empty, and it lets out a low rumble. "Yes, I'm very hungry." I open the door after running my fingers through my hair to straighten it a bit. Clint hands me a small bag.

"Then I will come back for you in a few minutes. Get dressed." He turns and walks down the hallway. I shrug, close the door, and go into the bathroom. Opening the bag, I discover a pair of jeans and a black and white striped shirt, along with my tennis shoes that I had been wearing when I stepped through Uncle's magic door. I smile slightly. I miss my family, my world. My home. I sigh, and slip into the outfit, my growling stomach urging me on.

Fifteen minutes later, Clint knocks on the door, and I open it, having been waiting impatiently for several minutes already. "Took you long enough."

Clint just raises an eyebrow, and motions for me to follow him. We take the elevator down to the lobby, then walk out the front door to a waiting SUV. I climb in the backseat, next to Loki, who is already there. He is wearing undoubtedly "Midgardian" clothing again- black jeans and a blue button-up shirt. "Morning," I say, buckling in. "Where are we going?"

"To a place the Midgardians refer to as a 'restaurant'," Loki answers. I don't miss the fact that he said "the Midgardians" instead of "you Midgardians". I ignore it, however, not wanting to think about it. I look at him oddly.

"There are no restaurants on Asgard?"

Loki's face darkens at the mention of his childhood home, but he answers all the same. "None that I know of."

I frown. "That's sad." I shrug. "Well, you'll get your first taste of a German restaurant today. As will I, since this is my first trip to Germany," I say, looking out the window. Stuttgart is absolutely gorgeous.

The rest of the ride is mostly quiet, although I can't help "oohing" and "ahhing" from time to time at the beautiful architecture of the surrounding buildings. I feel like I'm driving through history itself at times. After a while, we arrive at a cozy diner that is already filling with people. I look at my watch, and then realize why. It's nearly midday. "This must be a popular place," I say, looking uncertainly at the crowd of people both inside and outside. Loki and I exchange a glance. Neither of us are very keen on crowds. "We could just order takeout, and go somewhere quiet to eat," I suggest.

"That may be a safer option," Clint says from the driver's seat. I raise my eyebrows, surprised that he agreed with me. Loki thinks on it for a moment, then nods. I grin. Wow, even the god of mischief agrees with me. Loki and I climb out and make our way inside, but are forced to wait in a rather long line. I look around while we wait, frowning as I realize something isn't quite right. I listen carefully and watch for something out of the ordinary, wondering why I feel as though something is off about the place.

"What's wrong?" Loki asks quietly in my ear, apparently having noticed my frown. I jump with surprise, his voice sending shivers down my spine.

"Gosh, you scared me!" I shake my head. "I'm not sure, but something isn't right," I reply, continuing to look around. Loki frowns, and begins to search our surroundings. Suddenly, I realize what it is.

"Oh my gosh! Loki, I can understand what everyone is saying! They're speaking German, but I can understand them!"

Loki frowns at me. I sigh, and say quietly, "I can't call you 'your highness' in public. People will notice. Would you rather me call you by a different name?"

Surprise flickers in his eyes, and I can't really blame him. Why am I being so nice about this again...? Suddenly my eyes light up with an idea, and I spin around to face him. "Wait, I have the perfect cover name for you. Thomas Hiddleston!"

Loki furrows his brow, evidently wondering why I chose that name. "Hiddleston?" he asks, sounding incredulous. I can't help but laugh.

"Yeah! It's a British name, and you sound British. And I can just call you Tom! It's perfect!" In more ways than one...

Loki looks rather suspicious, probably wondering if I'm pulling a prank or something. "Why did you choose that name?" he asks as we step forward in the line. We are finally only a few orders away from the counter.

I decide to tell him. "Well, in my world, an actor by the name Thomas Hiddleston portrays your character in a movie. He does a splendid job capturing your personality, and emotions, and...well, your entire character. He's pretty much your alter ego. It's amazing how similar, and yet different, you two are. He's an incredible actor."

"So, this story about my conquest of Midgard, is it a play?" He actually looks interested. I grin at him.

"Well, not exactly. It's very similar, though. I'm not really sure how to explain it to you; I'd have to show you, and I can't right now."

Loki nods, but our conversation is cut off as we step forward to order. Loki gets...well, I have no idea what it is that he ordered. I decide on a hamburger, since I actually know what that is. Then I frown, realizing something. I can read the German menu...and I just ordered a meal in English, but the cashier understood me. And she replied in German. What the heck is going on?! I try not to look disturbed as Loki and I take our bags and exit the very crowded restaurant. As soon as we are back in the relative quiet of the SUV, however, I turn to Loki. "Why can I understand everyone, and read in German?! And that cashier understood my English but replied in German! And I understood her! Am I...what is going on? Did you cast a spell or something?"

Loki smirks at me as Clint drives us away from the restaurant. "No. You have been using Allspeak. It is a gift that Asgardians have- the ability to communicate with people of any language."

My eyes widen. "Allspeak is real? I've read so many fanfictions about that-"

"Fanfictions?"

I look at him. "You don't know what fanfictions are." I grin widely, about to launch into a detailed explanation, but Loki apparently misjudges my enthusiasm, glaring at me.

"I do not need to know every petty detail about the mortals' lives on Midgard."

I smirk. "Well, you'll want to know this."

Loki doesn't say anything, so I take that as a "go ahead", even though he still doesn't look very happy with me.

"In my world, this story about you and your world domination is quite popular." I make sure to appear upset at the thought of him taking over the world, but pretend to quickly shove the thought away. "You have an insane amount of fans. I mean, people all over the planet know who you are and love you." I shake my head. "Anyway, a fanfiction is a story that a fan writes about characters and events that happen in another story, but the fan adds their own characters and events to the original story, creating a completely new story. Most of the time, these stories are written through the eyes of a character that the fan created, and most of the fanfictions are love stories. Usually, the character that the fan created falls in love with a character from the original story." I shake my head again, amused by what I'm about to tell him. "And you, my friend, happen to have more fanfictions to your name than any other character from this story."

Loki's brow furrows, and I can tell he's not sure whether to be honored, horrified, or completely confused. I laugh. "You should see your face right now, you look hilarious." Then I laugh again, remembering something. "You know, you look just like a meme I saw once-"

"Meme?"

I shake my head with a grin. "Ok, it's time for an education."

For the rest of the drive, I educate the god of mischief on all things internet. Our conversation does not stop during our lunch on a quiet park bench, and we continue talking as we meander through the park after eating. After I've done my best to explain the internet to him, I tell him about the history of Germany, pointing out the differences in the architecture of the surrounding buildings that pertain to different time periods. When I mention that Christmas tree decorating was originally a German tradition, I have to launch into a description of various holidays on Earth. Loki then explains a few of Asgard's holidays to me, and we discover that some of the holidays are very similar. I can't resist telling him a couple of stories about my childhood celebrations of Christmas and Easter, and soon he and I are trading childhood memories. Some of his are outrageous, since he had the god of thunder as his older brother, but some are very sweet. He seems rather uncomfortable speaking about his family, however, so I do a lot of the talking. He is evidently still bitter towards them. By the time we return to the SUV where Clint is waiting, I am astonished all over again at how much my view of Loki has changed in so short a time. He seemed to relax a bit in my presence while surrounded by so much nature and beauty, and I am glad that he felt more at peace. He may not be able to relax again for a very long time.

Author's Note: Hi everyone! Thank you so much for reading! It really means a lot to me. God bless you all, and I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!

AuthorsDream, signing off.