Clint just gave them a blank look before turning his attention back to piloting the quinjet. It was, he decided, less of a headache than trying to understand what a scientist and sorceress were discussing when trying to understand the applications of the other's craft. Piloting also didn't require him to look at the other female and the Knife Thrower who had appeared almost as blank as him at the explanation.

Sif let it soak in another moment while Hogun remained content to simply listen to them. "You understand it, this spell, then? You will be able to undo it and Loki will be able to hunt Amora with us," Sif said, satisfaction creeping into her voice.

The Healer blinked and looked at her friend, her grip relaxing fractionally on the helmet. "The last rune set is bone and lock to transfer the anchor into his bones. To undo the spell, I would have to remove his bones and replace them," Sigyn said with a calm she didn't feel. "The only other options are to wait for him to fight the spell off or to kill Amora."

A frown creased Sif's lips as she studied Sigyn's neutral expression. "Hel would be useful in this, would she not? Loki taught her most of what she knows before Odin gave her to the dead as their ruler."

"He taught her illusions and the basics of teleportation. Tracking is another matter," Sigyn said with a flash of temper. "Odin sealed her into the realm of the dead. She cannot-"

"She can," Sif said softly. "Loki taught her about clones as well. Hel has…been using me as an anchor to try cross realm travel. She's gotten very good."

The color drained from Sigyn's features until she looked more ghostlike than anything. You-You're-You've-" she started and then stopped. She had to take a steadying breath and, when she let it out, she noted that Hogun's grip on one of his daggers relaxed and slid it back into the arm hostler. "She's able to travel across the dimensional divide just as Loki can teleport?"

"Using clones. She found the loophole in Odin's spell," Sif said, smiling.

Sigyn cocked her head and the expression seemed to almost slide from her face as something occurred to her. "How long?" she asked.

Sif shrugged one shoulder and glanced at Hogun before her gaze darted back to Sigyn. "Nearly about the time that you vanished she started appearing to me," Sif answered and Sigyn dug the heel of her palm into her forehead. "Hel was nearly frantic when she couldn't find you. She…" Sif hesitated and then pressed on under Sigyn's glare, "She wanted to perfect the spell before she progressed to trying to switch places with the clones and…"

"…and you suspect that she wanted to do something to even the score with Odin. How far along is she and how often does she use you for the anchor?" Sigyn pressed.

"She can hold form for an hour before it dissolves and she cast the spell every three to four months. It's about time that she tried again," Sif said and Sigyn nodded absently.

Her eyes closed and her fingers tightened around the helm almost to the point of pain. And it was almost too much, after everything-the relief that had been theirs only hours ago, the blind panic when Loki had fallen, the pain when he had woken and not recognized her, and, more than anything, the bitter hope at the realization that the last of her children was not, perhaps, lost to her-it was almost too much.

"When she next appears to you," Sigyn said, because she couldn't not hope. "Please alert me. Even if she desires to have nothing to do with me, I would simply ask of you to give me the knowledge that my child is…" and her throat closed around the words as the first tear spilled down her cheek. She gave a rough chuckle that was far from amused and swiped at the tears, blinking them away after a long moment. "Even if Hel wishes nothing to do with me, it would still be welcome news."

"Sigyn," Sif started softly, but the Healer shook her head.

Silence fell over them for a long moment. Then, the quinjet was landing smoothly, its wheels gliding gently against concrete as Clint brought her into a perfect touch down they barely felt, but it was enough that Sigyn was on her feet and moving for the cargo door before they had rolled to a stop. Clint, seeing her movement, dropped the door before they had properly stopped, partly out of concern that she would rip a hole in it. She leapt lightly from the back and caught herself in a crouch on Tony's landing pad. Why the machine said SHIELD and was landing on Tony's property wasn't something she wanted to think about, so she didn't.

As soon as they stepped foot within his walls, Jarvis was running a check over their vitals and scanning for traces of the Enchantress' magic. Already knowing Sir was bringing in the vial for further study was something he had been prepared for. Having every warning blare when Sigyn stepped inside with the helm was not something he was expecting, but given her history and what he had heard her explain perhaps he should have. The scans weren't as strong as the traces on the vial, but still...

"Ms. Sigyn," he said and she looked up. "Please neutralize the magic in the helm before proceeding further."

"There is-" she started and then her gaze slid to the metal she was holding. Shock spelled itself over her features as she realized something. "Jarvis, may I bring it to medical ward? I'll need to run some tests before I dispel it."

There was a pause as he ran the estimations on her ability to contain any damage the Enchantress' spell would do. Simultaneously, he tracked the locations of Sir and Ms. Potts and diverted the attention of Bruce Banner to Sir's location. "It seems safe enough," he said a moment later. "However, should you begin acting outside of the patterns you have exhibited in the last few weeks, I will take precautions for the safety of the other inhabitants."

She nodded once and then all but seemed to vanish to his sensors. One moment she was standing in front of the door, the next she was turning into the stairway and then she was at the door leading to the floor on which they had placed the Trickster. If he hadn't witnessed her speed the night she had saved Sir, he would have taken acted on the precautions. As it was, he only recorded the time between which she seemed to vanish and then reappeared to his sensors, adding it into the list of things he was learning about the Aseir.

Loki was still unconscious when stepped through the doors and set the helm on one of the counters approach him. There was, she noted absently, no clear wall separating him from the rest of the room as before. She wanted to say something, to tell him that everything would be alright, but she knew he'd have scorned the words. Things were never alright. The events of their own lives should have been enough to show her that. There was always someone one step ahead or behind them, plotting something that would humiliate or hurt them.

For a long time, it had been Odin trying to prevent Ragnarok in tearing them apart. It had made her forget about Amora, push the old hatreds of her sisters aside while they worked to bring down the largest obstacle in their way to living a life that they had chosen. When had she forgotten Amora's petty jealousy and Angrboda's suffocating ambition? Had the Abyss dulled her senses as well as her memories? She seriously considered the possibility that it had.

As it was, she slid onto the bed until she cradled his head in her lap and bent her own over him. Magic flared at her fingertips, chasing the spell that encompassed his body until it lit up like a sickly green spider web with two faint, single strands stretching in opposite directions. At the touch of her magic against his, she could feel the phantom sensation of the pain from before roiling through his body, but it wasn't enough to distract her.

One thread, she confirmed with a glance, was still tied to the helm and it was growing ever dimmer as the spell anchored itself more firmly into Loki's bones and leeched its way into his magic. The other stretched towards the wall and seemed to vanish through it. Without plucking at it, she knew that it would have led her to Amora had she the mobility to follow its course.

Thankfully, she knew someone who could follow it without her restrictions. "Jarvis," she said softly. "Do you see it?"

There was a pause in which she knew he was assessing something. "I see it. Are you able to break her hold in breaking the strand?"

"No. I tried that already. All it sparked was this," she answered and she didn't lift her gaze from her husband's too still features. "But in anchoring a spell like this into his body and magic, she forgot one very important fact."

"What fact was that?" Jarvis asked, partially, she assumed, out of curiosity.

She looked up and blinked at him. "She forgot that if she succeeds with something like this, I won't stop until she is dead, captive within her own mind and body, or I die."

To that, Jarvis had no response, but he was already running through the security protocols of local cameras in the direction that the strand was leading. "I will have to authorize this course of action with Sir, but it looks as though I would be able to access the local network grids to track it as long as there is nothing to obscure the optical view."

She looked up at that and frowned. "What?" she asked.

He sorted through the words again and found simplified meanings. "As long as Sir agrees and there is nothing to block the sight of it, I can track it."

She gave a short nod, then turned her gaze back to Loki, and traced a finger along the strand that led back to his helm. It was something he had always treasured as a gift from his mother and she didn't think he would approve of what she was planning, but the less of the spell that anchored itself into him, the better chance he had of fighting it. When she was sure of the feel of the strand, she sliced her hand through it and released a burst of magic through the thread. For a long, still moment, nothing happened and then the helm shimmered before it melted into a glob of molten gold.

A palpable shudder ran through him and he slitted his eyes to look at her. "One aspect of the spell is death if it doesn't complete itself," she said, trying for calm and succeeding. "But you're too stubborn to let a whore like her win with cheap tricks and weak willed spells. You're going to come out of this or I'll drag you back from Hel's grasp myself."

He gave a dry chuckle that made her chest ache and when he reached a hand up to stroke a thumb over her cheek and cradle her cheek in his palm, she couldn't help leaning into the touch. "You've destroyed my helmet," he said and the laugh that burst from her was sharp and involuntary.

"How many of my things have you destroyed in the past? In pursuit of knowledge?" she asked, mimicking the tones he often took with her.

"Plenty," he rasped. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard in a way that made her hunch closer to him until her dark hair almost provided them with a curtain of privacy. "You…are…Sigyn?"

"Yes. Yes, of course I am, love," she said and it came out thicker than she had intended. She didn't ask who else he might have confused her with, that much had been spelled out for her in the runes. She knew, knew, he was strong enough, but it hurt-oh it hurt-to hear the question in his voice and see the uncertainty in his eyes. "Should I recount the tale for you of how you finally earned the name Trickster from your mother? She wasn't very happy with the snakes you spelled her outfit into."

The dark flush that crossed his cheeks and the glare he gave her told her enough and she could only grin at him. "No. That's not…necessary," he said. "Tell me about Thor…and Fenrir." And she did, she gave him every last detail she could remember, even the most painful moments when she hadn't thought she could remain sane after Fenrir had been banished. When he huffed an amused laugh and turned his head in the middle of what had been one of his more elaborate pranks on Thor, she stopped. "You…said that Thor has Jane. She's human, is she not?"

"Yes. Her name is Jane Foster. They met when Odin stripped him of his powers and cast him to Earth," she said and waited, already understanding what was happening. She threaded her fingers through his hair and grinned at the half glare he shot her, but it melted under the frustration she could see in his face. "They're safe, you know. Fenrir and Sleipnir," she added when she realized he really wouldn't have a way to test her knowledge about their children. "Odin had tried to summon Fenrir and tie him to Angrboda while we fought our way out of a dream he had caught us in." She paused and looked away to study the slowly dying light of the evening sun just beyond their window. "They were Aseir turning into wolves just like the old human legends about werewolves, but the process was too fast and you knew before I did that there was something wrong. You always were just a little more intelligent than I was." And that was when she felt the tension bleed from him. She didn't look back at him, understanding he wouldn't want her to see him this vulnerable. Instead, she let him catch her hand and kiss her fingers.

"Only a little?" he asked archly and she laughed.

She looked down and felt the relief spark through her at the dark humor that lit his green eyes. "Yes, only a little, love," she returned. "Who was it that decided a stroll with the hellhounds was a good idea?"

"Thor," he answered, almost automatically.

"And you just…went along with it?" she asked.

"I did no such…" he started and then paused, his gaze sliding to the door she had left open and where someone was then standing.

The slight pull of magic between them was all the warning she needed as she flung up a shield that absorbed the green bolt he had sent out. He pulled himself into a sitting position and then tried to stand, but he had to catch himself on the edge of the bed as the world tilted around him. Sigyn caught his shoulder and steadied him, a touch that he normally wouldn't have fought but shrugged off in that moment. Her spell strained against the loss of contact and then snapped, taking the strand Jarvis had been tracing with it. She knew he felt it, too, in the startled look that he cast her, but that look quickly vanished when he turned back to Clint's profile.

The archer appeared as unfazed by the attempt on his person as was possible. If the light showed he was a little paler than usual, that was fine in his opinion, but he didn't flinch or step back. "I was going to say that the food had arrived, but if you want to fight the gym is open."

It was an almost tangible challenge that had Sigyn sliding between them and framing Loki's face with her palms. "Loki," she said, but he didn't look at her. "Loki, please," she repeated more urgently and he finally looked at her. "Don't. I don't know how well the spell will interact with your magic if you cast needlessly."

He laughed and looked at Clint again, a smirk playing across his features. His fingers closed around Sigyn's wrists and he gently pushed her back a step as he said, "I don't need magic to subdue the Hawkling or any other human."

She snatched her hand free of his grasp and slapped him. The move was quick enough that Loki wasn't expecting it and had to blink at the sharp prick of pain that bloomed amidst the warmth of the mark on his skin. "Enough, Loki, please," she said quietly and stepped closer to him until they were almost touching and he had to look down at her to catch her eyes. "Before you moved, I was tracking the spell and its spread across your magic trying to determine if there was a pattern we could use to undermine its integrity."

His cool gaze made her stomach twist, but she didn't apologize or back away. It was the now or never in which the spell had either twisted too many of his memories or he remembered enough about her to trust her. He still had a grip on her left wrist and, when his magic settled around them, before the spell had closed on them she thought she knew where the spell would deposit them.

The compression of wind and space and time was an uncomfortable experience, one that she had never liked and now was no exception. When she stumbled against the hard packed earth of their island, she had little time to be surprised before her back was slammed to a tree with enough force to make it shudder. Cold armor bit into her skin through her clothes. Between the tower and the teleportation, he had transitioned into armor.

She blinked back her surprise to look at him and wasn't surprised at the cold fury that danced across his face. He pressed his forehead to hers and she could feel the way he struggled to control himself, to hold onto the memories. "You'll defend yourself," he bit out.

"No," she answered. "Not against you. Not like this."

"Sigyn," he breathed and slid a hand behind her neck and she understood in that moment just how hard he was struggling to hold onto himself. His features were hard with fury, but his eyes were more than a little wild as he tried to stay sane and fought. "You do not wish me to fight with the humans. You do not wish me to use magic, but I must do something." An outlet. He needed an outlet for the pain, something to focus on long enough to distract him from the digging, clawing, worming pain.

She had to bite down her initial panic, because she had never seen him struggle against one of Amora's spells like this. He had always been the stronger, the more flexible of the sorcerers known throughout history and never, never had he been trapped like this. "Alright," she said slowly. "Tell me what you need."

"We'll have to drain ourselves of magic to the point of extreme exhaustion as draws power from me to maintain itself. As long as it cannot draw from my magic, it will compromise itself and do most of the work for me," he said.

"That-"

"Just do as I say," he snarled. "We can debate the merits of different magics later!"

Loki was trying to provoke her and she knew that, but she also trusted him. So she let his words stoke the helpless rage that had been guttering in her and she struck first in a bright flash of light that left him partially blinded and allowed her time to get distance between them.

Magic came to her call and flowed between them as easily as breathing. Words mixed together and sensations bled through the night. They never stayed on one part of the island for long as they danced just beyond reach, struck with magic as much as physical strength, bruised and bled and avoided fatal injuries. It came down to the twisting of their muscles, the careful measurement of magic thrown behind a spell, avoiding the wolves and Sleipnir, and the measured, aching rush of heartbeats and labored breaths. In the end, he caught her with a quick teleportation and net spell that left her tangled and shaking with exhaustion. He was left crouched against a tree while he caught his breath and eyed her with interest.

"Satisfied?" she managed to gasp out and his only response was a slight quirk of the lips.

The spell dissipated and she staggered only to drop cross-legged where she had been standing. She tipped her head back and squinted at the sky overhead, taking in the stars that were stubbornly resisting the slowly dawning sun. They were sweating and bleeding and Loki's armor had been dented in several places somewhere during the night and Sigyn was almost certain she could trace the path of their fight just by following the crushed underbrush, but they were alive and sane. It was almost more than she had dared to hope for. She turned her gaze back to him and studied his dark profile.

"Is it…broken?" she asked, almost dreading the answer.

He considered her. "Fragmented, yes, but not…entirely gone. I…do not feel the pain quite as it was, but I can feel the slow trickle of my magic and with it the return of that pain." He shrugged one shoulder. "It is not as when the Chitauri had me in their grasp, but they were not trying to meddle with my memories of you and the combination is…disconcerting."

"Open the siphon again," she said before she thought about the words.

"No," he said and it was a flat answer. "You would only get caught in the backwash like before."

She snorted. "What I felt was the spell trying to spread itself over the both of us and not doing so well. We are exhausted, as you planned. What next but to try and dislodge the spell? Amora keyed it to your bones, but it draws from magic specific to the host and-"

"-feeding it your magic would either strengthen it to encompass you or weaken it to the point of releasing me," he said in the same, final tone.

"It's my risk."

Loki bristled at that and slowly straightened to tower over her. She rose with him and held his gaze. "Siphoning can go both ways," she reminded him.

"Not if I break it," he snarled softly, backing her towards the old oak at her back.

She let him, because she knew it made him feel better if he felt he had an advantage in some way. When he had her firmly pinned between the trunk and his body with his forehead pressed to hers again, she gripped his shoulders and said, "Let me help, Loki. Let me help. I would rather be lost with you than protected and sane on the outside and left with only revenge. You-" she choked on the words and gave a strangled laugh. "You are mine. I have always and will always love you. If I lose you, then I lose sanity and everything we consider precious, even our children, will not be enough to hold me here. I will follow you through darkness and chaos until we find light again. Where you go, I will be with you. I won't…I can't let you go." And then words didn't matter anymore because he was kissing her, his touch a barely there whisper against her lips but it was a kiss and it was enough to make her stop and just hold him, fully aware that every moment with him could be her last.

A/N: Thank you to my reviewers: cath-k8, Suheyla, and Maia2.

If you notice that this chapter picks up directly where the last chapter left off, you're right in one. I had the first piece already written at the time of posting and only later realized what had happened, but it made for a longer post this time.

It's been slow going these last few months and I thank each and every one of you that has returned every time to read more. I won't promise faster updates because it's been a painful couple of months and looking forward to something has become difficult for me and pushing this story would just throw me into a block, but I do very much enjoy/appreciate and appreciate seeing new reviews, favs, follows, and spikes in the view count. And, no, this isn't a subtle hint/threat to get more people to review, so if you don't feel like doing any of the aforementioned things feel free not to. I'll continue writing as the story continues to unfold in my head and I hope people continue to enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.