Lyanne stretched, rubbing her eyes and yawning. While the cave faced West and was currently in the shadow of dawn, she could still see the rosy fingertips stretching over the woods outside through the waterfall. Feeling invigorated by her full stomach and the beauty of the rising sun, she grinned and flexed her muscles, slowly transforming back into her regular self. She had been in her feral state for almost 24 hours; a new record.

"Does it hurt when you do that?" Amora suddenly asked. Lyanne was startled and whirled around - she had thought she was still asleep.

"No," she answered. "Sometimes it - tickles - like when my fur grows in - but it's never really been painful."

"Consider yourself very lucky," she said, nodding. "It looks terrible."

Lyanne shrugged and tried to peep out at the brightening landscape.

"We should probably go," Amora suggested. "It's only a matter of time before they come for us. If they haven't already."

She nodded, peering back out.

"Should I get us breakfast first, before we head out? Just in case we don't find anything on the way. It's still early." She glanced at the bear meat from the night prior, which had sadly defrosted already and begun to spoil.

"Not a great idea, but not altogether awful. I'd make it quick, though."

Lyanne nodded her assent and climbed the slippery stone steps Amora conjured once more, setting out to find the raspberry bush she had discovered before the bear attack. She had barely been walking for ten minutes before she found the bush, still intact and heavy with early summer berries. They were tart, but not a bad breakfast. She crammed a few into her mouth as she picked others, setting them on a pile on the ground like she had last night, only to realize that that same mound was still there, undisturbed. Something about this bothered Lyanne greatly - if there was a bear in this forest, it was incredibly likely there were also squirrels, rabbits, mice, and any other number of creatures who would have eaten the small pile of fruit. Now that she thought about it, she realized she didn't hear any birds calling, either. Suddenly she felt raw and naked, her skin crawled and she began to shiver. Standing quickly to run back to the cave, she almost ran straight into an unwelcome visitor.

Loki.

He smiled at her, grinning his wicked grin and stepping even closer, not even a foot in front of her, spreading out his arms in a welcoming gesture.

She punched him in the stomach. He doubled over, the blow strangely unexpected, and Lyanne tried once more to run back and return to her companion. He was too fast, however, and gripped her elbow tightly enough so that she could not escape. She writhed and twisted, but he yanked her back towards him and wrapped his arms around her stomach, breathing in her ear heavily.

"I've missed you, dear," he whispered, kissing her cheek. She was at a loss for words, so she just struggled more instead. He turned her around to face him and held her even more tightly, scowling now and shaking her a little bit to make her stop wriggling.

"Enough," he commanded. "I'm taking you with me."

"So you can kill me?" she finally shrieked, kicking wildly again. Loki bore her blows with no more than slight annoyance, rolling his eyes and pressing the tips of his fingers into her arms, hard enough to hurt.

"No, you fool, that was just an act. Odin's beard, you really are slow sometimes, aren't you?"

She sneered and tried to spit in his face, but with slight wave of one of his hands, her expectorate evaporated instantly.

"How else was I going to get you into SHIELD? By asking politely?"

"WHY would you try to kill me?"

"I already told you, I didn't; I only wanted to make it realistic enough for them to believe you no longer had ties to me, that you were loyal instead to them, so that you might have access to the files again. But it appears as though that didn't spare you the rod, now did it?" he added, taking in her puffy eyes, filthy clothes and unkempt appearance. "For that, I am sorry. I underestimated them."

"You underestimated them? Is that your excuse?" she shouted, her voice becoming higher and louder. "You had no idea what I had to go through! I…""Hush. I've gone through much worse. Try falling through a wormhole, dear, then tell me how rough you've had it," he said nastily. She shrank and looked away, so to cover the awkward moment, he kissed her.

"Stop that," she whispered.

"No," he said shortly.

Raising her head again, he kissed her deeply, holding her body against his despite her rigid, untrusting stance. When they broke apart she looked halfway between anger and exasperation.

"What do you want with me?" she sighed.

"You haven't forgotten, have you? You agreed to come with me when I had asked you to. Now I am just keeping you at your word."

"Keeping me at my word?" she snapped. "Even though I can't do the same for you? You tried to kill me so that I could be captured by SHIELD and just guess that you weren't really going to harm me! Did it ever go through your head that if your goal was to make me believe you had betrayed me, that I might just believe you had betrayed me?"

He rolled his eyes and tsked.

"I already told you, I wasn't really trying to kill you."

"That's great, were you just planning to let SHIELD finish the job?"

"No. I was actually hoping you would be able to worm your way back into their good graces, by cooperating and being truthful - more or less - about the fact you didn't know why I had 'turned' on you. But then you had to go and destroy our chances by escaping. And setting the Enchantress free? I don't think I've seen anything so idiotic in my life. You're lucky you still manage to please me, otherwise I'd never put up with your stupidity."

Lyanne tried to slap him but he caught her hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Enough of this nonsense," he said shortly, trying to tug her along. She dug her heels into the ground to try to stall him, however, twisting a bit so he had to stop and readjust his grip on her.

"Why would you think that I would still try to access their files for you after you had hurt me?" she asked.

"I truly thought that, considering all we have been through together, that eventually you would remember I would never do anything to truly harm you. I assumed you would come to that conclusion, figure out that I must have a plan, and that you would do what you were sent to do in the first place."

"You really have no idea how confusing you are. I… I literally cannot fathom how you thought I would 'come to the conclusion' that you'd never harm me and pricked my throat with a knife for a… a… a good reason. Un. Be. Lievable."

"It's a flaw of mine, really," he hissed. "I underestimate the Avengers and overestimate you."

He shook his head in mock disdain and released his grip on her, tracing his fingers up and down her arms. She shivered as she always did under his touch, crossing her arms and looking away. Loki placed his fingertips under her chin and lifted her face.

"Don't ever doubt that I love you," he said. Lyanne immediately began weeping and he wrapped his arms about her tightly.

"I thought you were trying to kill me, I really did," she sobbed.

Loki felt uncomfortable with her crying, but held her nonetheless and began kissing the top of her head, moving down to her ear and jaw line, her tear-stained cheeks and shuddering lips. He kissed her powerfully, putting all of his frustrations into it, feeling her shake in his grasp and return his ardor. She ran her fingers up through his long hair the way he liked, sighing softly with the relief of his embrace.

"I've missed you," she whispered.

"Let's leave already, then," he said, a mischievous light flickering in his eyes. "Right now."

"But what about Amora?" she asked.

"Indeed," Amora said from behind him. She brought her hands back and flexed them, launching a rather weak bolt of magic towards Loki. He laughed and used his one free hand to smack it away like it was an irritating fly.

"Sorry, dear, maybe next time when you're not so pathetic. It's not really a victory when there's nothing to challenge," he sneered. Suddenly, he turned back to Lyanne. "Say goodbye, now," he said cheerily.

Before Lyanne could say a word, she felt herself surrounded by powerful heat, then there was a bright flash of purple light and a feeling of weightlessness, the inability to breathe, and finally, the familiar vertigo that followed soon after landing. She collapsed onto the ground, hand on her head and eyes closed until the ground beneath her stopped swaying. Loki wrapped his hands around her, placing his chin on her shoulder, his lips tickling her as he whispered information into her ear.