Upon sliding open the glass door to the lab downstairs, Sigyn quickly decided that Stark Tower Two’s lab felt less sterile than the one in Catalina.  It definitely had something to do with the music coming from the little white box that Jane had set her phone on.  Sigyn paused, listening to the luscious crooning voice coming through the sound system.  Was the woman singing about setting fire to the rain?  She smiled wide—How fitting.  Exploring the lab further, she was pleased to see there was even a painting on the wall.  Not particularly her style, but still, the extra color was nice.

Erik looked up from his laptop momentarily to see her staring at one in particular. “Odd for a lab, huh?”

Raising an eyebrow she shrugged. “A bit.”

“Tony is really proud of that one,” Pepper said, pulling up the files from Howard Stark’s work with vibranium on a transparent screen of sorts. “He loves it.  He said he wanted it to be in the room he spends most of his time in.”

Sigyn peered at the screen curiously. “He’s proud of it?  Did he create that piece?” She pointed to the painting.

Pepper choked on the coffee she’d just sipped, and coughed, though it sounded more like an amused bark. “Um,” she sputtered a bit more before continuing, “no.  Tony did not paint that.  He bought it.”

“For thirty-four million dollars,” Jane pointed out, frowning at the notebook she’d been scribbling in.

Sigyn’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “For a painting that is not even a quarter size of the wall?”

“It’s a Gerhard Richter original,” Pepper explained, as though Sigyn had any idea what the Hel that meant.

Sigyn rolled her eyes.  She really was an alien here, wasn’t she.

“What’s a….” she trailed off, waving a hand. “Nevermind.” Who was she to judge someone’s spending habits?  She was promised to Asgardian royalty with bottomless pockets for Hel’s sake.  Still.  How absurd.  Thirty-four million American dollars for something that small to decorate Tony Stark’s lab?  Shaking her head, she walked to Pepper who tapped on a file labeled ‘Wakanda’ and started reading aloud, rather quickly, through the information.  Sigyn couldn’t quite keep up, but the furrowed brow and downturn of Pepper’s mouth wasn’t a good sign.

“Dammit,” she murmured to herself, putting a hand on her hip, the other at the back of her neck.

“What is it?” Sigyn asked, squinting at the screen.

“Lemme guess,” Jane piped up, tossing her notebook on the table and crossing her arms as she strolled to them. “We don’t have the heat needed to construct it.”

Jaw quirked, Pepper just shook her head and started pacing, eventually stopping to inform them that she was going to get some more coffee and left.  Jane followed, leaving Sigyn somewhat confused and alone with Erik.

“Just how much heat is required, Dr. Selvig?” She turned to him, her hope for this experiment waning as anxiety started to push its way into her stomach.

He stood and swiped his finger across the screen. “I’m not as familiar with vibranium as I should be,” he said, shaking his head. “Hmm.” He scratched the back of his head. “Apparently Cap’s shield is a mix of vibranium and an iron alloy, which is probably a good thing considering pure Wakandan vibranium molecules behave as if at absolute zero.”

Sigyn frowned, annoyed by how little she understood Midgard’s science. “Absolute zero?”  

“The lowest temperature theoretically possible,” Jane answered, coming down the stairs with two cups of fresh coffee, Pepper trailing closely behind. “The atoms of a substance transmit no thermal energy, thus remaining motionless.  Caffeine?”

Sigyn shook her head, and Jane shrugged, setting down the extra cup. “Again,” she said, trying to keep the annoyance out of her tone, “how much heat is required?  Or what temperature, I should say.”

“Well, let’s put this in perspective,” Jane said, bending over to clack away at her laptop. “Carbon steel is forged at 2246 degrees Fahrenheit, and its particles hardly act like they’ve been born in a block of ice…. colder than ice.” Sighing, she stood back to her full height. “God, this is going to require way more than a simple blow torch, obviously, or even the hottest forge.  And Stark doesn’t exactly just have a forge hanging out in the building.”

“How much heat do we need?” Sigyn asked again, her patience running thin.  She’d asked twice already.

“The hottest flame available is dicyanoacetylene, which is a compound of carbon and nitrogen.  The chemical formula,” she paused to write ‘C4N2’ on the transparent screen with her finger, “written as such shows that it has four carbon molecules and two….” she trailed off when Sigyn sighed heavily.  

Sigyn ran a hand through her hair. “Please continue, though if you could speak in a language I understand, that would be helpful.”

“I’ll try.” Jane tapped the screen a few times and a picture of a flame appeared. “Dicyanoacetylene burns in oxygen, and as you can see,” she gestured to the image on the screen, “it’s a bright blue-white flame at a temperature of 5260 Kelvin, which is equivalent to 4986.85 degrees Celsius or 9008.33 degrees Fahrenheit.  It burns hotter in the ozone at 6000 Kelvin, but seeing as how we’re on the ground, that hardly matters.”

“Oh for Hel’s sake,” Sigyn mumbled under her breath, rolling her eyes.

Jane grabbed the pencil from behind her ear and tapped it to her mouth, brow furrowed as she quickly scrolled through the words on the screen. “The high flame temperature is partially due to the absence of hydrogen in the fuel.  Well, obviously,” she snorted, looking at Erik who had an amused look on his face, as though they were sharing an inside joke. “I mean, dicyanoacetylene isn’t a hydrocarbon.  You’d think that peer-reviewed research wouldn’t sound so elementary.  God, this crap is written for kindergarteners.”

Sigyn and Pepper exchanged annoyed looks, and Jane looked up at them then, as though she’d forgotten they were in the room.  With a sheepish grin, she cleared her throat.

“Sorry.  I’ll break it down for you.  The absence of hydrogen in the fuel means there is no water among the combustion products because water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen, thus they-”

“For the love of everything in the nine, PLEASE, Jane!” Sigyn slammed her fist on the table, it’s aluminum frame buckling underneath the force.  She’d had enough, enough of the little physicist’s science prattle. “How much fucking heat do you need to forge vibranium?!”

They’d all jumped at her outburst and were eyeing her with thinly veiled fear.  Taking a deep breath, Sigyn reined in the hint of smoke that had appeared at the tips of her fingers.  She refused to apologize.  She would absolutely not apologize for putting up with all this nonsense for as long as she had and then denting a table.  They should be thankful that she hadn’t lit the place on fire.  She did however clear her throat and speak more calmly.

“How much heat do you need?” She forced a smile.

It was Erik who answered. “Roughly 10,000 degrees.”

Pepper frowned. “So hotter than the hottest flame we could even find?  If we even had access to dicyano-whatever-it-was?”

Jane shrugged, her brown eyes sadder than Sigyn had ever seen them. “Looks that way.”

Inclining her head, Sigyn pursed her lips. “I might be of help.  Heat is sort of my specialty.”

She then pushed the black smoke out of her fingers and let it flow from the tips of her hair.  White hot flames licked at the ends of the tendrils of smoke.  Yes, it was a bit over the top, a dramatic demonstration of her magic, but she’d wanted to make a point, and considering the dropped jaws and wide eyes staring at her, she figured it had worked.

“Are you sure you can make fire that hot?” Erik posed, his head sideways.

She didn’t answer right away as the magic dissipated.  She was almost positive.  After all, she’d melted frost giants with barely a thought, and hadn’t thought at all when she’d evaporated the frozen rain over Silver Lake.  Well, they didn’t need to know she wasn’t one hundred percent sure.

Head held high, she nodded once. “Positive.”

Pepper laughed and looked at Jane. “You’re brilliant, Jane, but I think that’s one big point for magic and zero for science this round.”

Jane rolled her eyes but laughed along with them.

---

Tony set down five hot thin square boxes on the coffee table. “Prepare to fall in love, Loki,” he said, taking a seat next to him, but with some decent space between them still.

Loki smirked, one dark eyebrow raising as he eyed the boxes. “I can’t possibly fall farther than I already have.”

Rolling his eyes, Tony opened the boxes one by one. “I’m not talking about your girlfriend, Loki.  Speaking of which, ease up on the PDA okay?  It’s nauseating.”

Loki frowned. “Pray tell, what is PDA?”

“Public displays of affection,” Steve answered, grabbing a slice of what looked like a flattened pie with vegetables and various meats decorating its surface.

“Ah,” Loki said, inhaling the meaty flattened pie’s heavenly aroma. “I can’t make any promises.  What is this?”

“Pizza,” Tony answered around the huge bite in his mouth, the word muffled.

“Come again?” Loki nodded his thanks to Steve as he handed him a slice.  

“Piz-za,” Tony enunciated. “Just eat it.” He waved a hand, taking a generous bite. “If you don’t like it, then you officially don’t have a soul.  Like gingers.  Except for Pep, of course.”

Loki watched as Tony and Steve folded their slices in half.  It looked a bit odd to him, eating the main entree of a meal with one’s hands, but shrugging, he mimicked them and ate.  

Oh gods….

“Sweet Valhalla,” Loki breathed, his eyes rolling back as the combination of chewy thin crust, melted cheese, and various textures and flavors from the other toppings ravaged his taste buds in a most glorious fashion. “I’m falling….” he trailed off, taking another delicious bite.

“Told ya,” Tony smiled, wiping a bit of sauce from the corner of his mouth with his thumb and licking it clean. “Next to sex, it’s the best thing ever.”

“Mmm,” Loki hummed and nodded, eyes still closed.  Norns, this was amazing.  When he was king again, this so-called ‘pizza’ was going on the menu in the palace.  He leaned forward and grabbed one of the untouched boxes and set it in his lap protectively. “This one’s mine,” he said, his mouth full, his manners completely forgotten.

Steve smiled, procuring a box for himself. “Well, if we’re staking our claims.”

“Save some for the rest of us,” Fury warned, appearing in the doorway alongside Coulson. “Stark, did you only order five?  Are you insane?”

Tony didn’t even look up, only showing Fury his middle finger. “So order more.”

Fury and Coulson had disappeared from the living room of Tony’s penthouse after they’d finished speaking with Loki about thirty minutes prior, and seeing as how it had been after nine o’clock at night, everyone had reached that point where hunger overruled any coherent thoughts.  They’d become ‘hangry’ according to Tony, so he had ordered dinner, not bothering to ask if the crew downstairsーSigyn, Jane, Erik, and Pepper to be exactーwould want anything.  Having had an appetite the size of Vanaheim at the time, Loki hadn’t even noticed the lack of consideration on Tony’s part.

Smirking, Fury strode over and grabbed a slice. “Just had a chat with Councilwoman Hawley.  She’ll be on SHIELD’s personal redeye in an hour.”

Tony groaned and tossed his half eaten slice back in the box. “Shit.  That soon, huh?  At least give us time to come up with a good story.”

Struggling to focus through the haze of food-induced euphoria, Loki blinked and rose an eyebrow at the director. “I assume Councilwoman Hawley is your leader?”

“Not exactly.” Fury shook his head, grabbing a napkin and wiping his hands before clasping them and leaning forward on his knees. “She’s a member of the world security council.  They’re politicians and representatives from the most powerful countries who keep tabs on SHIELD and give us…. tasks, for lack of a better word.”

Loki swallowed and licked his lips. “Gives you tasks that you must carry out or….?”

“Or I decide the task is bullshit and go a different route.” Fury laughed, exchanging smiles with Coulson.

Loki grinned.  He rather liked this Nick Fury character. “Did this council task you with reigniting the tesseract then?”

Fury sobered instantly, his previous mirth lost with the mention of the cube, and nodded slowly.

“Too bad you didn’t decide that task was bullshit huh?” Tony glared.

Fury shook his head and exhaled sharply. “Like you, Stark, I saw an opportunity to create sustainable energy.”

“Guys, don’t start this again.” Steve looked between the two. “Let’s just eat some pizza, drink some beer, and decide what to tell Hawley.”

Loki stared at the man for a moment, feeling an unusual amount of sympathy for him.  It seemed that Steve’s entire purpose was to be the mediator between Fury and Tony.  Where was the strength, the leadership, the glory that should befit a superhuman such as the great Captain America?  The man seemed incredibly sad, in a way.  He looked away when Steve caught him staring.

“You ordered pizza?” Jane stopped at the top of the stairs, gaping.  Erik was on her heels and nearly ran into her back. “Why didn’t you tell us?” They hurried over, and Jane eyed the box in Loki’s lap lustfully.

Eyes narrowing, he hugged it more tightly—Don’t even think about it, little girl.

“Where’s Sig?” he asked, looking behind Jane.

Scowling at the lack of food left, Jane snatched a slice from Steve’s box when he offered it with a smile. “Thank you, Steve.  She’s testing her magic,” she said, turning to Loki. “Pepper is recording the temperature of the flames Sigyn creates.  She’s applying the heat to samples of metals and alloys with the highest melting temperatures.  We started her off easy with carbon steel, which she mastered that pretty easily.  She’s working her way up to rhenium.  She’s incredibly powerful.” Wiggling her eyebrows, she smirked.  “I might be developing a girl crush on her.”

Loki snorted, shaking his head. “Even if you weren’t barking up the wrong tree, she is very much taken.”

Jane rolled her eyes. “It was a joke.”

“Was it?  Don’t forget I can read minds, Dr. Foster,” he said, lips pursed, and Jane blushed visibly before focusing on her pizza with renewed enthusiasm.

Steve cleared his throat and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Why is she melting metal samples?”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “That’s some serious pyro shit.”

“Because we need serious heat to forge the vibranium case for the tesseract, and she said heat was her specialty,” Erik said plainly with a shrug, as though it was obvious.

Steve took a swig of his beer, wishing he could feel even a slight buzz. “Just how hot does it have to be?”

Jane cleared her throat. “Ummm….” out of the corner of her eye, she looked nervously at Loki.

Sitting up straighter, his pizza forgotten, Loki sucked in his cheeks. “How hot, Jane?”

Jane opened her mouth but stopped short as Loki stood, his intimidating height dwarfing her.  That was the first time he’d addressed her by her first name, and his tone made her want to run the hell out of there.  The man was really scary when he wanted to be.  Or maybe he didn’t want to be scary and was just really concerned for Sigyn, but he was scaring Jane shitless nonetheless.  Swallowing thickly, she squared her shoulders.

“9941 degrees.”

Eyes wide, jaw clenched, Loki was down the stairs in a second.  Gods, Sig couldn’t possibly…. her magic just couldn’t handle that.  Her body couldn’t handle that.  No way in Hel would he let her kill herself for a gods damned science experiment.

One arm wrapped around Sigyn’s waist, Loki pulled her closer into him when the elevator doors opened to the forty-fourth floor.  She rested heavily on him, though it was obvious to him that she was trying not to.  He’d found her in the lab, her eyes sunken and sweat beading on her brow, and he knew she wasn’t sweating from the heat of the flames.  No, she was exhausting herself with all this melting nonsense, so Loki had simply swept her up and taken her to the elevator.  Midway to their floor, she’d asked to be set down, though she was unsteady on her feet.  

“I’m fine,” she mumbled as he picked her back up, rolling his eyes.

“You most certainly are not fine, Sig.” He laid her on the bed when they came to their bedroom, and he set to removing her sneakers.  Shaking his head, he growled under his breath at the knot in the laces.  Human idiots.  Could Pepper or Jane or Erik not see that Sigyn was unwell in the lab?

She sat up on her elbows, her biceps trembling with the effort. “Loki….”

Looking up at her, he sighed, “You cannot possibly make flames that hot.”

“Yes, I can.  I could have, if you hadn’t stopped me,” she said quietly, pushing up completely to a seated position and used her longer nails to loosen the knot he was struggling with. “I had to focus a bit more than usual, but I’d melted ruthenium just before you came and snatched me away.”

Loki glared, pulling off her shoe and tossing it over his shoulder. “And how hot was this ruthenium?”

She bit her lip anxiously, really not wanting to set off his temper.  She was far too tired to deal with that.

“Pepper said it was 4500 degrees.”

“Right,” he huffed, thoroughly pissed off now as he nimbly undid the button of her jeans and pulled them down her legs. “And Selvig said vibranium would need 10,000 degrees.  If 4500 takes a ‘bit more focus’,” he made quotes with his fingers, “what will 10,000 take?”

Reaching down, she tugged on his arms weakly, trying to pull him to her.  He was being far too protective.  She wasn’t a child.  She could do this, but she needed him to have faith in her.

“Loki….”

“Gods, you’ll exhaust your magic!”

He gripped the hem of her shirt, pulling it off, and stalked to the shopping bags in the corner to find the set of sleep clothes he’d seen earlier.  He was going to make her rest, whether she liked it or not.  He shook his head, angrily rummaging through the bags until he found the soft grey t-shirt and stretchy shorts.  Rising to his feet, he climbed on the bed and crawled to her, gesturing for her to put her arms up so he could pull the shirt over her head.  Didn’t she understand?  Did she not remember when Odin stripped her of her magic?  How agonizing it had been?  Their magic weaved through their very fibres, and without it, the joints rubbed painfully against each other, the muscles weakened, their minds dulled.

“Was not your magic exhausted by the time you landed on that desert?” She placed a hand on his chest, reveling in the electric feel of his magic pulsing underneath it. “And yet here you are, strong as ever.”

He stopped then, kissing her forehead.  She had a point, but he wasn’t ready to concede. “Sig, love-”

“I’ll be fine,” she whispered for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

Shaking his head, he cupped her face with both hands, his eyes meeting hers. “I cannot risk losing you.  I lost you once.  Twice, actually.  I’ll not do it again.”

Gods, she loved him.  This would have been the perfect moment to lean in, to share a kiss, to pull him close and love him again and again, if she wasn’t so damn tired.  But staring into his stunning irises, she stopped suddenly, seeing what she hadn’t seen in over three months now.  Something she adored.  Eyes wide, tears stinging them, she brought her hand to her mouth.

“Loki, your eyes….” she croaked, her voice failing her as tears filled her eyes.

His eyebrows came together. “What?”

Lower lip trembling, she smiled and ran her thumbs under his lower lashes. “Go look in the mirror.”

He hesitated.  Through the bond he could feel her happiness.  He thought he could guess why she was looking at him like she had in the throne room when they’d first seen each other.  The warm familiarity that flowed through her now flowed through him, and he was almost positive of what he would see in the mirror.  Standing slowly, he walked into their bathroom and stared at his reflection in the glass over the vanity.  He leaned closer and could have wept at the sight of his eyes looking back at him as his mother’s once words echoed in his mind.

Green is for life.

He swallowed thickly and closed his eyes.  Sigyn’s arms came around him from behind, and he turned in them, the smile on her face so wide it probably hurt her cheeks.  She pulled him down by his neck and kissed his eyelids.  His hand came up to her hair as the other crushed her ribs, partly because he felt that he couldn’t pull her close enough but mostly because he thought she might collapse at any moment.

“You put the most stunning emeralds to shame,” she murmured into his ear.

Turning his head, he kissed her and smiled against her teeth as she began to slowly grind her hips into him, though the effort was halfhearted at best.

“You’re insatiable, woman.”

“Can you blame me?” She kissed along his jawline, pulling a breathy moan from his throat, arousal flaring deep within him. “Have you seen you?”

“I have,” he groaned as she all but climbed him like a tree and wrapped her legs around his waist.  

Kissing her breathless, he gripped the backs of her thighs and carried her to the bed where he deposited her carefully beneath him.  His hand wandered under the cotton of her shirt, moving up to her breast, and with the other he unbuckled his belt.  He moaned into her mouth, hissing sharply when she reached down and gripped him through his jeans.  Hooking a finger inside the waistband of her shorts, he urged her to lift her lower half up so he could remove them, but her trembling legs and the little yelp that escaped her lips gave her away.  He pulled back from her kiss and looked down at her.  

“What?” She frowned, shifting underneath him. “Don’t stop.”

Right.  She wasn’t exactly begging him, was she.  Shaking his head, he ran a finger under her eyes.  They were still sunken, the dark circles underneath them growing darker still, and her forehead still glistened with sweat, and her cheeks looked positively feverish.  Rolling his eyes, he growled, utterly frustrated.  Kill me now—he was so gods damn hard and now he had to deny himself, lest she pass out beneath him.

“I’m afraid I must.” He pushed up from the bed and adjusted his pants, wincing as he attempted to zip the fly.  

Insufferable trousers!  Frustrated since there was no way he would be able to zip them over his now straining cock (dammit!), he pulled them down completely and removed his sweater.  Wandering into the bathroom in just black boxer briefs, he splashed cold water on his face and stayed there until he was no longer going cross-eyed from the lack of blood in his head.

“I’m sorry,” Sigyn mumbled weakly when he finally crawled into the bed next to her and pulled her to him underneath the sheets.

“You should be.” He kissed her forehead. “Cruel woman.  I have needs.”

She laughed weakly and tried to find a comfortable position.  Five minutes into her shifting around next to him, he threw an arm over his eyes and groaned.

“Sig, love, what are you doing?”

She stilled on her back and exhaled heavily. “Everything is sore.  I might as well get up.  I can’t sleep like this.”

“I can help with that.” He pulled her to face him on her side and placed two fingers on both of her temples.

“What are you-”

“Shh.”

“Are you drugging me?”

“Yes.”

Green light came into her vision as her eyelids grew heavy, her limbs relaxing instantly.  She mumbled, her tongue feeling thick in her mouth.

“Looove mmmagic fffingersss.”

“You always have,” he whispered, chuckling at her slurred words, and settled in next to her as her jaw went slack with deep sleep.

Loki awakened abruptly, shooting up in bed as though someone had yanked him by the shoulders. Running a hand down his face, he yawned.  Sigyn was still curled on her side facing him exactly as she was when she fell asleep.  Good.  Hopefully, she’d sleep for another ten hours.  He slid out from under the covers with all the lithe grace of a cat so as not to wake her, though he doubted even a siren could wake her up at this point.  He’d basically put her in a mini coma with his magic.

He’d prefer to sedate himself, honestly, but the time had come for him to report his findings to the Other.  Pulling on a black v-neck t-shirt and long black drawstring cotton pants, he wandered into another bedroom.  He stood at the window and glared at the thunderstorm outside.  Lightning flashed across the black clouds, and his mind went to a decidedly dark place.  Thor—He shivered as his not-brother’s face splayed across his vision.  He slammed his eyes shut, hands balling into fists at his sides.

Squaring his shoulders, he did what the Other had told him to do.  Face the western sky at eleven o’clock on the second night and focus on the base of the stairs in the desert in his mind.  He was to do this every other night or else.  He had no idea what the Other’s idea of ‘or else’ entailed, but he had no interest in finding out, so there he stood, waiting for this to be over.  

His eyes glazed over as the clouds twisted and morphed and altogether disappeared from his vision.  Cringing, wishing only to see the Los Angeles skyline lit up by lightning, he slowly opened his eyes to peer at his surroundings.  Steadying himself mentally, he took deep breaths.  Ughーhe hated this.  Here he was, at the base of the stairs, and who else but the aptly named Other was descending them.

“Tell me,” the wretched creature commanded.

“The tesseract is under the care of a counter terrorism agency called SHIELD.  They are devoted to using the tesseract as an energy source, not a weapon,” Loki lied easily.  

“Is it of great value to them?”

Loki managed to keep from rolling his eyes, though he wanted to desperately.  Was the tesseract of great value to them?  Really?

“Of course,” he answered coolly, his hands clasped behind his back. “Their planet is very old. The humans have been draining Earth’s natural resources for too long, and they know they must find another method to fuel their habits.”

The Other nodded. “And what of SHIELD?  How strong are their forces?”

“I’m not sure yet.” Liar, liar pants on fire.  He knew damn well just how formidable SHIELD was.  He’d spent hours talking with their director.  Hel, he knew the favorite foods of each of the agents on Coulson’s team.

The Other wasn’t convinced and descended the last step with renewed purpose.  He came within inches of grabbing Loki’s throat, but Loki stopped him, his palms up.

“I know that twenty or so agents were ready to kill me when I came through the tesseract.  They stood down because their lead agent told them to, so clearly they follow their leaders commands.  There is no evidence of mutiny.”

Stepping back, the Other looked him up and down. “And what do they think of you?  Do they suspect you?”

Loki chuckled darkly, a physical lie if ever there was one since there was nothing funny about this encounter. “No, they find me intriguing,” he squinted up at the stars and shrugged, adding, “and attractive.”

It was the Other’s turn to laugh, the sound grating on Loki’s ears.“I’m sure they do,” he said, making Loki’s stomach twist painfully.  He had to stop himself from reeling back in disgust when the Other patted his cheek twice. “See that you continue your good work, Asgardian.  We’ll speak in two nights.”

“Very well,” Loki managed to spit out before the pain started.

Oh no.  No no no no no.  Not again.  Please not again!

He crumpled to the ground, gripping his head as those same damn invisible syringes stabbed his eyes.  The illusion of the desert disappeared as thunder boomed across the city.  Gritting his teeth, he curled in on himself.  He tried to hold back his scream.  He really tried.  Sigyn stumbled into the doorway then, clinging to the frame to keep from falling, one hand covering her mouth as though she was going to be sick.

“Sig,” he croaked, his throat hoarse.  He was genuinely sobbing now, trying to push up to his knees.  

“No no no!” She ran to him gracelessly, and fell to the ground next to him, pulling his head into her lap. “Just stay there.  I’m,” she let out a trembling breath, “here.”

The pain eased up enough for him to get out more than one word at a time, though he still couldn’t open his eyes.

“Are…. you…. okay?” He spoke between breaths, relieved for the ability to breathe at all now.

“I can handle it,” she said before promptly pushing to her feet and scrambling into the adjoining bathroom where she threw up into the toilet, her grip on the rim so tight that she bent the porcelain.  She’d never associated headaches with nausea, but clearly her body had a different idea at the moment.  This was a whole new level of pain.

Loki called from the bedroom, his voice strained still. “I’m so sorry, Sig.  I’m so sorry.  Try to ignore the bond, love.  Ugh …” he trailed off, his stomach twisting and turning wretchedly as his mouth filled quickly with saliva.

He heard the toilet flush and the tap turned on, and his nausea dissipated instantly.  Either she’d blocked the pain of his headache or he’d blocked her stomach pains, he didn’t know which, but he was glad that it was over.  It would have been a vicious cycle.  She came up behind him and pulled his head back into her lap, pushing his damp hair away from his face and putting a cool washcloth to his forehead.  Squeezing her arm, he murmured his thanks and continued to apologize profusely for the pain he’d caused her.

“Shush now, Loki,” she whispered. “I think being so tired made it worse.  I hardly care about myself though.” She put her forehead on his, hoping it was comforting to him. “What happened?”

Eyes closed still, he sighed, “It happened when I came through the tesseract, too.  I was speaking with the Other, and he dismissed me, and it happened again.”

“He gave you a headache?” An agonizing headache.  She wanted to meet this Other and burn his face off. “But you weren’t using the tesseract this time.”

“No, I wasn’t.” He managed to open his eyes and look up at her, blinking rapidly.

She was looking out the window, seemingly lost in thought, the lightning casting flickering shadows across her face.  The dark circles under her eyes weren’t as bad as they were when she fell asleep, at least.  The sweat on her brow was probably from the headache and the retching.  Despite all that, she was still the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen.  She finally looked down at him and seemed surprised to see his eyes open.  No, that wasn’t surprise in her eyes.  That was fear.  She was gaping at him, her hand going to her throat.

“What’s wrong?” He looked down at his arm, checking to see that he hadn’t turned blue.  Not that she was afraid of his Jotun form, but he just didn’t know why she was staring at him as though he’d developed some sort of horrid disfigurement.  

“What’s wrong?” he asked again, more urgency in his tone.  She didn’t answer, and gripping her arm, he sat up and shook her. “Tell me!”

As though coming out of a haze, she stroked his cheek, a tear escaping from her watery grey green eyes, and regarded him with a sadness that cut right through him. “Your eyes…” her hand was on her mouth, choking back a sob.

”Wha….” he couldn’t even manage a one syllable word.  Tears were coming again, he could feel them.  His breath hitched in his chest, everything aching, his muscles, his bones, his heart most of all.

Despite the pain, he pushed to his feet and stood before the full length mirror in the corner of the room, the glass facing the window behind him.  It was too dark to see anything, but he looked nonetheless.  Maybe she’d been mistaken.  The lightning could have been playing tricks on her eyes, right?  And then an especially bright flash lit up the room, for what felt like ages, the blindingly bright streak reflecting in the mirror with such intensity that he saw himself more clearly than he ever had.  It was like watching the blood-splattering mess of Thor gutting one of his kills after hunting.  It was awful, and the image would be forever seared into his brain, but he couldn’t look away.  As though in painfully slow motion, the light swept over his features revealing bright unnaturally blue eyes.  He was vaguely aware that Sigyn was hugging him, her shoulders shaking, her tears soaking through his black t-shirt.

Green is for life.

What was blue for then?   Death?  Was he dying…just slowly?  Over days?  Weeks?  Months?  What was happening?  Why they were blue again?  Why?

Eyes searching hers, he tried to hide the tremble of his lower lip. “They’re killing me.  They’re going to kill me.  They’re going to kill me, Sig.”  

Dear gods, blue was for death.

“I won’t let them,” she whispered shakily, reaching around his neck and kissing his cheek, her lips lingering there as her hands wove through his hair.  

“Green is for life,” he mumbled his mother’s prophetic words, wrapping his arms around her as his mind reeled.

He couldn’t do this again.  He was back on the bridge, tumbling over the edge into darkness, all hope lost.  Clinging to her, nearly crushing her, he put his face in her hair and choked on his own cry.