Hiraeth: a deep sense of longing, a yearning for that which has passed, a sense of homesickness tinged with grief or sorrow over the lost or departed.

Frigga sat by the window, looking out over the Kingdom. She and Odin had retired to their bedchamber and night had long since fallen, but she knew neither she nor her husband would rest much that night. Her thoughts were with Loki. Since he had fallen from Asgard she had longed for him to come home - to be safe. And now he had returned to her in chains, with a trail of blood left in his wake. So different from the Loki she had lost. He had changed so much in the few short years since his fall. It had made her heart ache, seeing him return to them like that - shackled, cold, and so full of hate. When he'd looked at her, she barely recognised the sweet boy she had raised in his features.

She sensed Odin approaching from behind her but she didn't turn to him, not even when he rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Frigga," he said gently.

"Did you have to be so cold towards him?" she asked, still staring out over Asgard.

Odin sighed and his hand slipped away. He moved to stand within her line of sight and followed her gaze out over the city. "What Loki did on Midgard, what he attempted to do to Jotunheim, he must face the consequences for those actions." He told her, calmly.

"You are still his father. You sentenced him to waste away in a prison cell, must he also be left to believe that you no longer care for him?"

"Any indifference I displayed towards Loki today, pales in comparison to the contempt he holds for me."

"It is not our job to be loved by our children, Odin," Frigga turned at last to meet his eye. "It is our job to love them."

"But I am not just father to Thor and Loki. I am the Allfather. King of the Nine Realms. It is my sworn duty to protect all the realms from any threat they face and to punish any who might jeopardize the peace we have built over the centuries, you know that. Even if that threat is my own son."

Frigga didn't respond, she knew there would be no convincing him. Odin was often wise, but he was also a stubborn man. Part of her worried that if she pushed now, it may only make things worse for Loki.

They sat in silence for a time, surveying Asgard in the cool night air. The events from the past few days played over in each of their minds. It was a long time before Frigga spoke again.

"The girl, Reagan," she began in a gentle voice. "Her magic, it felt as if it were-"

"It is Asgardian," Odin finished for her. "Yes, I sensed it, too."

"How is that possible?" She asked. "I felt her energy, she is mortal-born. For her to not only possess such power, but also the mark?"

"I must admit that I'm unsure. I will consult the ancient scrolls. There may be answers there. Perhaps the goddess Kaha left a message we have since forgotten."

Frigga nodded. She hesitated for only a moment before speaking once more.

"This could be a good thing, Odin. Perhaps, Loki finding her will mean-"

"Loki will not be permitted to see her, Frigga," Odin said, sternly, putting the matter to bed. "I intend to keep my word. He will remain in that dungeon for the rest of his days."

Having lost his patience with the conversation, Odin made for the doorway. He swung them open and stormed down the hallway, followed by the guards stationed outside of their chambers. Frigga didn't try to stop him.

It seems so cruel, Frigga thought but did not voice the words out loud.

The mark of Sjelevii was such a rare thing now, she herself had only seen it once before. It was meant to be a blessing - a gift. Something that brought two people a lifetime of happiness. For the bond to occur between Loki and a Midgardian, how could that possibly be a gift? She'd live for only a fraction of his existence. Was this the fate her son was supposed to be subjected to? To find the other half of himself, only to be parted from her by dungeon walls and then to lose her to a mortal lifespan? Was he destined always to suffer? Frigga wiped away a tear, she wasn't quite sure when it had fallen. She would seek out the counsel of The Coven in the morning, she prayed they'd be able to help her boy.

Reagan sat with her elbow propped on the table as she idly stirred the ice in her cup around with her straw. She sighed heavily and checked her phone again.

6:32pm

She had been waiting for him for almost 45 minutes now. Unlocking her phone, she scrolled down to his name in her contacts list and hit 'dial', knowing that it was more than likely a fruitless effort.

Hey, it's Austin! You know what to do, leave a message after the *beep*

Reagan hung up, tossed her phone back in her bag and slouched down into her chair. He was always doing this. She'd lost count of the hours of her life she'd wasted waiting for her boyfriend to bother to show up when they made plans. It's not like he ever stood her up, (even though she'd wondered if maybe that's exactly what was happening when he was late to their first dinner date) but would it kill him to show up on time just once?

"Hey, babe," she heard his voice and turned to see him hurrying towards her. He smiled as he leaned down and planted a kiss on her cheek then sidled into the booth across from her. "Sorry, I'm a little late. I hope you weren't bored."

"It's fine," Reagan lied, hoping she didn't sound too frustrated. They'd had this conversation a million times and it never seemed to make a difference. And aside from that, Austin had insisted upon meeting in the Elephant Boy Cafe - where she happened to work, so she really didn't want to make a scene. She didn't exactly like going there on her days off but it was where she and Austin had met so he insisted that he liked going there together whenever they could. Though, Reagan suspected it wasn't so much to do with that and more to do with her staff discount.

If there was any sign of annoyance in her voice, Austin either didn't detect it or chose to ignore it. Instead, he launched into a story about how he'd met up with the guys for a few beers and that he might head back over there after their meal. It appeared that he'd forgotten they had planned to go to the movies. Reagan let it slide, she had an assignment she wanted to get back to working on anyway.

"Hey, so I think I found an apartment for us," she told him, shifting the conversation away from beer-pong. "It's two-bedroom, and only 15 minutes from campus. It's a little on the higher end of our weekly budget but I thought with the second room, we could set up a couple of desks in there and we'd have a study space. That way we wouldn't have to lean over a laptop on a coffee table for hours on end."

Austin leaned back in his seat and averted his eyes, suddenly looking uncomfortable.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Uh, listen, Reagan," he began, rubbing at the back of his neck. "I'm starting to think this whole moving in together thing isn't such a great idea."

"Okay," she said slowly. "And why's that?"

"I've actually been thinking for a while now, that maybe we want different things."

"Oh, my god," she murmured to herself, shame tinged her face red as she realised what he was doing.

"I mean, I'm a young guy in college. I kind of think I should be seeing what else is out there, you know?"

"Seeing what else is out there," she repeated and raised her eyebrows at him, astounded that he had the nerve to say those words to her.

"Reagan-" Austin reached for her hand but she snatched it away and folded her arms over her chest. He sighed. "You know I think you're the perfect girl for me. You're beautiful and smart and you're not one of those girls who sweat the small stuff. I mean, you didn't even care that I was late today cause I was having a beer with the guys!"

"I did care, actually."

"What I'm saying is, maybe we could just take a step back for a while and, you know, in a year or so down the track when I've had a chance to be single for a while we could pick things up again."

"Austin, you can't be serious," Reagan said. Her hands started to tremble and she wasn't sure if it was from anxiety or anger or both. "I can't believe you're doing this right now. You asked me to meet you here for dinner. Why would you bring me to the place I work just to break up with me?"

"I figured it would work best, cause now you can ask one of the girls for a ride home."

That stunned her into silence, her jaw falling open.

She knew she shouldn't have been surprised. Austin had never been the most compassionate person she'd ever met, but she'd thought he'd cared about her. And living together while they finished college was supposed to benefit both of them. She'd never really envisioned them getting married or anything, but she'd never expected this. Her eyes stung as tears threatened to spill forth. She was mortified, she couldn't stand the idea of her coworkers seeing her dissolve into tears in one of their booths.

Oh, for Odin's sake, you're not actually going to start crying in public, are you?

Reagan stiffened, the voice rang out as if it had been spoken right in her ear. A chill trickled down her spine and she swung around to look behind her but there was no one there.

"Reagan?" Austin called her name, it sounded foggy - distant. "Reagan, what is it?"

Her eyes continued to scan her surroundings. Strange. The voice had sounded so close.

"Did you hear that?" she asked.

"Hear what?"

She furrowed her brow and her eyes met his, her tears still unshed.

"Wait," she murmured.

Slowly, she began to realise that she felt slow, sluggish, like she was underwater as she looked around once more.

"This part didn't happen," she told him.

Screams rang out all around her as the portal ripped open the sky above New York City and alien creatures invaded.

Reagan's eyes shot up to take in the sight and she shook her head, disoriented.

Hadn't she just been-?

An explosion sounded overhead as the monsters took fire upon some people who had crowded by the windows in a nearby building to get a better look.

Panic gripped her as a colossal flying beast descended from the portal, armoured, with hundreds of Chitauri riding it as if it were a ship.

"Reagan!" Nat called to her. "You think you could slow that thing down?"

Reagan scanned the streets around her. It was chaos, with people running in every direction.

Fear, so much fear.

"Not without burning down half the city," she shouted back, her heart thundering in her chest.

She hated when this helplessness took over. She could do so much, was capable of so much. She wanted to do something, but she couldn't risk it. To attack something that size with her fire... What if she just made things worse? What if she burned innocent people? What if she killed someone?

You're weak.

Her eyes shot up behind the voice and she spotted him, Loki, standing stoic amongst the chaos with his arms behind his back. He held her gaze with a chilling grin upon his sharp features.

"I have eyes on Loki," she told the others, drawing upon her flames, letting them burst to life over every inch of her skin.

Are you sure about that?

She heard his voice behind her and she spun towards it only to find nothing there, she looked back to where he had just been standing. He was gone. And people continued to run from the scene.

She heard Barton's voice in her earpiece, "I have eyes on Loki."

She was burning. Her entire body was doused in flames. The fire had eaten away her clothing and scorched the earth beneath her feet and she trudged forward, desperate for help. Some people ran from her. Some threw water which evaporated instantly upon contact. Some threw rocks, cutting her open, making the flames grow even higher.

Tears swam in her eyes, as she staggered, desperate and afraid. She'd thrown herself into a fountain in the town square in an attempt to quell the flames but the water had boiled and turned to steam impossibly fast, leaving the fountain empty as the buildings all around her burnt.

She heard pained cries not too far away and when she turned towards them she saw a weeping mother, cradling her daughter tightly to her chest, nursing red, angry burns all over the poor girl's arms.

"I'm sorry," Reagan sobbed, falling to her hands and knees.

"Leave us alone, demon!" The woman screamed.

This power is wasted on you.

Reagan sobbed again, and lowered her forehead to the ground, shrinkingly, and clutched desperately at her ears, trying to block out his voice.

"Shut up!" She screamed. Her flames only grew higher.

Reagan sucked in a deep, gasping breath and clutched at the metal bench in front of her. She looked down and found she was clothed, once again, in her black flame-resistant SHIELD uniform. Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest and she glanced around wildly, looking for the little burned girl.

She was surrounded by metal cafeteria tables. The tables immediately surrounding her were empty, but those a little further away were populated by SHIELD agents eating meals from plastic trays, all of who were intermittently shooting her suspicious glances. She was seated in the middle of the rookie's lunch hall... but she was so sure she'd just been-

"This isn't right," she whispered to herself, still trying to catch her breath.

A tray was set down roughly opposite her, jolting her from her train of thoughts. A red-headed woman sat across from her. She rested her elbows on the table and started picking disinterestedly at her sandwich. Reagan remembered this. In a sea of mistrust and fear, this person had offered her friendship. She thought about this moment often.

"They stared at me when I first got here too," she told her. "Try not to let it bother you."

"They're afraid of me," she murmured to this slightly younger version of Natasha, knowing it was what came next.

"They're afraid of me, too," Nat said. "Just for a different reason. Listen, if any of them give you any trouble, you come to me. I'll deal with them for you. I've got your back."

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

Nat looked up and her mouth quirked into the smallest hint of a smile.

"You remind me of someone I used to know."

Reagan offered a small smile in return before glancing around once more at the wary agents surrounding her until a flash of green and black caught her eye. His cold gaze was on her once more. Their eyes met and anger bloomed in her chest.

"You," she murmured and a wicked grin spread across his features.

She collapsed back on the floor and rubbed at her temples in frustration. She just wasn't getting it, she couldn't control it.

"Okay, let's take a break," a voice sounded through the speaker system and an alarm blared for 3 long seconds before the room was blasted with freezing cold extinguishers to settle the blazing fires she'd caused throughout the training room. She allowed her flames to dance up and down her skin to protect her from the cold, it hardly affected her at all anymore. The alarm sounded again, indicating the all-clear. She heard a door open and a single set of footsteps approached her and she quelled her flames entirely. She continued to lay there, staring up at the ceiling until Clint came into view, leaning over her with a smile on his face.

"Well, that was definitely impressive," he told her.

She rolled her eyes at him. "It wasn't supposed to be impressive, Clint. I was meant to be lighting a single candle."

Clint glanced around the charred room and spotted what he thought was a small pool of melted wax in the centre of the room.

"Technically," he said, turning back to look at her again, "you did light it. You just lit everything else up too."

She glared up at him and he laughed at that. He reached out a hand and she took it in hers, allowing him to haul her to her feet.

"Why can't I control it?" she asked him, miserably. "It shouldn't be this hard, should it?"

"Hey, you're trying. That's what counts."

"Not if I hurt someone."

"Reagan," Clint said gently, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up. You didn't ask for this, and you're doing the best you can. Just take your time and let yourself make the mistakes until you get it right. That's what Fury had this room built for in the first place. You've got this, I know you do. You've just gotta believe it, too."

Reagan offered him a smile. "You know what, Clint? I think you'd make a really good dad."

Clint's face split into a bright grin and he pulled her into an affectionate headlock. "Aw, thanks, kid."

Her laughter was cut short when she remembered the cold presence that seemed to be lingering just outside of her peripheral vision. She pushed herself away from Clint suddenly.

He looked back at her, surprised. "You okay?"

"You're not safe here," she whispered.

She was waiting outside the church, dressed in black, phone pressed to her ear for the 20th time that day, listening to it ring out once again. Why could he never - just once - answer his damn phone when she called? She had thought that maybe, just this time, he wouldn't be late. That he'd be there for her. That she wouldn't have to leave voicemails, begging him to love or support her.

She really thought he would come to this.

"Please pick up," she whispered as the phone continued to ring. "Come on, please pick up."

She really thought he'd be there for her.

As his voicemail played once again, the lump that hadn't quite left her throat for the past week swelled there again and a tear slipped down her cheek.

"Dad?" she said, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice as she left the message. "It's Reagan. You're on your way, right? People are starting to show up and- please, tell me you're coming. I can't- I can't bury her on my own. Please, I need you to be here."

She froze as she felt his presence before he spoke, that chill that was slowly becoming familiar to her.

"No," she snarled and dropped her phone into the dirt "Not this one."

She turned and saw him standing behind her in the doorway to the church. He wore no grin this time, instead, his expression wasn't quite something she could read. She didn't care, she had no interest in finding out what he was thinking.

"Get out of my head! You can't have this one."

Her dreams, her memories, he'd just been sifting through them like he'd been changing channels. Learning. Invading. Taking.

He opened his mouth as if he were about to say something but Reagan was having no more of it.

She felt her fire welling up within her as her rage grew - her hatred.

"Get out!" she shouted.

She launched herself at him, ready to claw out his eyeballs with her bare hands.

Reagan shot up in her bed, gasping for breath. She was drenched in sweat and her bedsheets were beginning to smoulder underneath her.

"Shit!" she exclaimed and scrambled desperately to pull the singed bedding up from the mattress.

She hurried into the washroom, laden with smoking fabrics and dumped them in the bath, turning the taps on hurriedly to put out the flamed. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she hurried back into the bedroom to ensure she hadn't missed anything. The room was filled with smoke, but she could find no more signs of anything still burning. As she attempted to catch her breath, she slumped back onto her mattress and stared at the ceiling. She inhaled deeply, enjoying the taste of the smoke, it hadn't affected her lungs since Norway, now there was something comforting about the smell of it.

Well, that was all very illuminating.

Reagan scowled and closed her eyes, mentally barging down the link, determined to invade his mind in return. She wanted revenge. She wanted to see what hurt him. She slammed up against that icy wall she'd felt only a few hours earlier and shouted in frustration.

Loki's laugh rang through her head. You haven't a chance, mortal. Do you truly think a hairless little monkey like you could be any match to a God?

Well, someone certainly thought we were an even match, so why not? She shot back, waving her newly marked arm around in the air for emphasis. Maybe you're not as powerful as you think you are, you asshole.

She felt his contempt spiral down the link and she took that small opportunity to try and force herself past his barriers. She was met with the icy barricade once more.

Just leave me alone. She said as she heard him laugh at her pitiful efforts. I don't want you in my head. I don't want to talk to you. I don't even want to think about you.

Do you think *I* want this? He responded, spitefully. You are beneath me, you insect. The sooner we can undo whatever has been done the better off I'll be. But until then I'm going to search that lump of meat you call a brain for any scrap of information I can use when I free myself from this cell and return to Midgard.

Reagan spent the majority of the next day curled up on her bare mattress with her knees tucked to her chest, her teeth gritted together as she tried to force him from her mind. It wasn't long before she realised that he was toying with her. And easily, at that. Every effort Reagan made to push him out, every attempt she made to infiltrate his mind, just caused him to fill her mind with his snickering.

Hour after hour, she tried to fight back his invasions and hour after hour she failed. She tried to mimic the ice wall he'd built around his mind to protect her own but it crumbled miserably under even his gentlest touch.

I must admit, I do admire your tenacity. Even if your efforts are pathetic.

She let out a frustrated huff at that and was about to bite back at him when a knock sounded at the door. Her head shot towards the sound in surprise, she'd spent so much time in her own head that she'd forgotten there were other people in the place.

She climbed off the mattress and made her way to the door. She cracked it open and peered out. A small woman in maids attire stood there holding a platter of fruits.

"Begging your pardon, my lady," she said. "Prince Thor requested I bring you something to eat."

"Thank you," Reagan offered a small smile and stepped aside to let the woman in.

The woman moved into the room and placed the platter down on the table, she moved towards the bed and faltered when she saw the bare mattress. Reagan cringed, hoping she couldn't see the few scorch marks she'd left there.

"Oh... Are you after some new bedding, my lady?" She asked.

"Oh, yeah sorry. I- I had a nightmare and..." Reagan set her hand alight for just a moment by way of explanation before extinguishing it once again. "The sheets are in the bathroom. They're sort of ruined, I'm really sorry."

"No trouble, I'll have fresh ones arranged for you right away."

She hurried into the washroom and emerged with her arms full of burned and now soaking wet sheets. Reagan opened the door and awkwardly apologised to her once again. Once she was gone Reagan went to inspect the platter of fruits that had been left for her. It was only then that her stomach growled and she realised just how hungry she was. She'd been so distracted by Loki that she hadn't even given it a thought.

Unsure as to what to expect food to be like on a different planet, she was pleasantly surprised to find that most of it looked familiar to her. There were apple and orange slices, nuts and berries which all looked familiar. There was a variety of bread slices and a dip that smelled of garlic. The only thing that concerned her was the selection of meats. They were strange colours, slightly more purple than anything she was used to eating; some even had a tinge of blue to them. She picked a strip of it up and sniffed it. Tentatively, she put it in her mouth and chewed it experimentally. The second she did, her mind was flooded with repulsive images of a mangled looking amphibious creature. Its eyes were bulging from its head and it let out vile gurgling sounds as it writhed unnaturally. Mucus seeped from its pores, coating its contorted, wart-covered body in a slimy sheen.

I can't believe you actually put that in your mouth. Loki's voice sounded in her mind again, full of twisted glee.

The images Loki forced into her mind twisted nausea into her gut and she spat the meat back onto the platter. Her face flushed with embarrassment and she grabbed a fistful of meat and hurled it angrily in Loki's general direction. It hit the wall with a splat and clung there pathetically. Reagan's head was filled once more with Loki's laughter.

Miserably, she abandoned the meal and climbed back onto the bed. Homesickness gripped her and in her exhausted state she suddenly felt like crying, but she refused to give him the satisfaction. She curled into herself and squeezed her eyes shut, trying once more to force the trickster out of her mind, knowing that the efforts would all be in vain.

Thank you for reading! Any feedback would be much appreciated :)