Loki Laufeyson - The Experiment {1}

Chapter Nineteen - Friday Movie Night

LOKI POV

It took Emily a little while to settle back into Stark Tower. I wasn't sure if she was afraid of all of us, but she seemed to be jumping at every small movement and sound. Her mind was always sending out panicked thoughts, most of which I couldn't actually understand because they came and went so quickly. She was having nightmares every night as well, but Stark's AI always woke me up when the nightmare started and I would go through my Mother's calming process with her. It worked every time, and normally we were able to do it before she lost control on her power too much. So far the worse that happened was that she had burnt through the sheets of her bed, but thankfully it didn't reach the mattress. Stark didn't care though, he just brought her like three or four more sets of sheets.

She showed many signs of improvement too however. She slowly began to eat more, not so much in the morning, but definitely at night. She still didn't' fill up her whole plate, and she didn't always eat everything that she put on it, but at least she was gaining weight. She occasionally seemed brighter as well, sometimes she would smile at something someone said, and once I had even heard her laugh. She wasn't still entirely settled, but at least she was safe.

"Loki?" A voice interrupted my thoughts and I looked over sharply where Emily was sitting next to me. She held the book out to me that she was reading, her beautiful innocent brown eyes watching me as she spoke. "I found another word I don't know."

We had been doing this most afternoons after lunch, we would sit in the library and read mostly in silence together. Because Emily was so used to speaking Russian for so many years, her English was slightly... rusty. She had trouble understanding and pronouncing a lot of words and I helped her with it. Not only did it help her understand words better, but it helped her to feel more relaxed and safe within the Tower.

"Conspicuous." I replied, reading the word out loud she had been pointing too. "It means... like to stand out clearly, to be very obvious." She nodded and gave me a small smile before turning back to her book, causing me to drift back into my own thoughts.

We had started training with Wanda again, it was only small sessions and nothing as big as what we did in Asguard because we didn't have Mother her to protect any of us. It was mainly just her summoning up a small flame and then putting it out again without it becoming bigger. She had been successful all of the times, even when there were other people in the private training room at the same time to watch.

"Hey, you two." A voice interrupted and both Emily and I looked up from out books to see Romanoff leaning against one of the bookcases, arms crossed. "Pepper sent me to tell you both that dinner will be ready in 20. She suggests that you both have a shower and get changed into pajamas 'cause its Friday movie night." She turned around and left without another word, leaving Emily to finish the page we were on before we stood up.

"What's Friday movie night?" She asked softly as we walked towards the exit of the library.

"Some weird mortal tradition where a movie is played on the big screen and everyone sits around eating Midguard food." I shrugged, opening up the library door and letting her step through. She looked at me curiously for a moment before walking out, letting the door shut behind me.

EMILY POV

When I peeled off my clothes to have a shower, I winced at all of the scars littering my body. Many of the bruises and scratches that had been covering me when I first arrived here had healed, but the scars still remained. They were a permanent reminder of what my life had been.

I didn't feel them when I stepped under the freezing water, a couple of tiny scratches stung at first, but the pain soon faded away. As I stood still under the water, I held my hands out in front of me, the scars shining faintly in the light. I blinked the water out of my eyes as it rolled down my face and fisted my hands, sending pricks of pain through my palms.