Chapter 2

"Save me from what?" he asked, anger still fueling him.

"He was going to destroy you," she said softly. Loki felt the invisible restraints subside and he jumped up, pinning her to the wall.

"Who?" he asked. He was mesmerized by her face, she looked so familiar but he couldn't recall where'd he'd seen her before. He fought the sudden urge to touch her and tried using magic again but nothing happened.

"Where's my Tesseract?" he repeated and gave in and touched her. And just as he did, he felt a shock go through him and he fell back, ending up on the bed again.

He didn't feel the magnetic pull to the bed but the shock was still reeling through him. She slipped down the wall and sat on the floor, her head between her knees.

Loki took a moment to recover and watched her on the floor.

"I'm sorry." He finally said and she lifted her head slowly. "Tell me what happened."

She took a deep breath, "I… I felt you…" she faltered and rethought.

"I noticed an energy shift and went looking for it and I found Adam lean over you. I didn't even know who you were but I knew what he was going to do with you, so I stopped him and took you away."

"Adam?" Loki asked, having heard the name before.

"He's… not good. He…" she stopped and closed her eyes.

Loki stood up from the bed and slowly approached her. He was afraid to touch her and hovered for a moment.

"I'm going to touch you, please don't shock me again. I just want to help you up." He said and gently reached out a hand and placed it on hers, relieved to feel no shock this time. She opened her eyes and watched him. Her hand felt warm under his touch and he slowly slipped his fingers under hers and took her hand into a grip. He felt warmth spread from her hand up his arm.

"I won't escape." He said as he gently pulled her up off the floor. "Not now anyway." He added with a grin. "I'm too hungry to go anywhere."

They stood by the door, still holding her hand, he said: "Let's try this again, hello, My name is Loki." Along with the warmth spreading up his arm, he felt a twinge of magic tying him to her.

She shook his hand, "Hello Loki. I don't know who I am."

"How is that possible?"

"I don't have any memories. Nothing before waking up on this planet."

"What does Adam call you?" he said Adam as if it were a touchy subject.

"Adam calls me Eve, but I don't think that's my name. It doesn't sit right. Makes me nauseous. Well, he makes me nauseous." She shuddered.

"That's pathetically poetic, isn't it?" Loki joked. "What would you like me to call you?" he asked.

"I've never thought about it." She pondered. "I'll have to think about that. Steve."

"Steve?" he raised an eyebrow.

"It's the first thing that came to mind." She smiled.

"Steve." They shook hands again.

Loki heard his stomach grumble and sighed.

"You're hungry, you can have some food and then we do this whole escape thing again." She said as she dropped his hand. He felt the warmth disappear and it felt strange.

She turned to the door and walked away. He followed her out of the room and into an open-plan kitchen and living room. He saw through the wide windows that it was nighttime. She waved her hand and glass shards swept off the floor and reassembled as a crystal jar.

"How come you can do magic but I can't?" Loki wondered.

"I don't know." She whispered. With another wave of her hand, plates flew out the cupboards and set themselves on the kitchen table and the oven opened, and a cottage pie flew out, setting itself in the middle of the table.

"You don't seem to know a lot," Loki pondered, waiting for the cutlery to fly out of the drawers and onto the table.

"I know some things." She gestured for him to take a seat as she sat down.

"Like?" he urged her, taking a walk around the room.

"I know I can do quite a few amazing things, I know this planet is called Utopia, I know what's right and wrong. I can feel good and evil." She started serving and gave Loki an extra-large portion.

"What else can you do?" he asked, curious. "Besides, you know, tell if someone's lying, shock them half to death, magnetize them to beds and move things with your mind?"

"I'm strong, don't know why. I can shapeshift. I can shoot with deadly accuracy. I can fly. I have magic. And I can stop you from using magic." He turned and looked at her. She smiled and winked at him and his jaw dropped.

"What do you think I would do if I could use magic?" he asked.

"I think you'll hurt me. Although, I'm sure I can take you." She started eating from her plate as he continued walking around the room.

"Why would I hurt you?" he thought, more to himself than to her.

"It's what people do," she murmured and nibbled at her food.

Loki walked closer to the table and stood behind the open chair, "I won't hurt you. I thought you could tell? With one of your abilities?"

She sat back in her chair and stared at him.

"You could change your mind in an instant, and that would change the outcome."

"You don't trust me?" he sat down but didn't touch his food. She laughed again and shook her head.

"Why would I trust you?" she asked, "You're the god of Mischief. Do you trust me?"

A smile spread on his face and he nodded. "I don't," he admitted and started eating.

"This is really good," he lamented, pointing at his food and finished his plate, reaching for seconds.

She poured them each a glass of water and places his glass close to him.

"I've seen things in you," she suddenly stated. "things about your past, things about your character, your hopes, and dreams."

Loki stopped eating mid-bite and stared at her.

"I saw your deepest desire too."

He swallowed his bite and asked, "And what would that be?"

"With a bit of therapy you will be able to find out too, but it isn't what you think it is."

"This isn't fair, you know so much about me, and I know nothing about you, except that you're holding me hostage, and," he paused for dramatic effect, " I know you like it."

"I do like it, Loki," she admitted. He felt a strange attraction when she said his name.

She hopped off her chair and took her plate to the sink. Loki downed his glass of water and took his plate to the sink too. She didn't move when he got closer and he felt her warmth vibrate off her as he stood by her.

He reached out a finger and barely scratched her perfect skin as if to remove makeup but came up clean.

"You look like you could be Idunn," he said, mesmerized by the fact that the gold effect was part of her skin.

She stared blankly at him and he elaborated, "Goddess of Youth." He justified. "I'd rather call you Idunn, than Steve." He crossed his arms and stood leaned against the table.

"Alright," she stated and mimicked his posture, leaning against the sink counter, watching him.

They stared at each other for a very long time in silence.

She pushed away from the counter and reached a hand out to touch him. She took his wrist and locked eyes with him. He felt a zing sensation as she touched him but he remained still, the warmth coming off her skin was surprisingly seductive.

"You can use magic now," she whispered and let go of his hand.