Little Emerald - [A Loki/OC Story]

Esme Barton's life is a delicate balancing act of survival and anonymity, the secret sister of an Avenger struggling for a life of normalcy. Between her morning shifts wrestling with a temperamental steam wand as a trainee barista and her late nights lost in the dusty, quiet aisles of a local bookstore, She has mastered the art of being a nobody.

It's exactly how her older brother, Clint, wants it.

But after the Chitauri invasion of May 2012, 'nobody' is no longer an option. Driven by a guilt that haunts his every step, Clint delivers an ultimatum that shatters her carefully built world: she's moving into the Avengers Tower.

Suddenly, Esme is thrust from the smell of old books and espresso into a world of glass, steel, and gods. She's a civilian in a fortress of warriors, feeling every bit the weakness her brother is trying to protect.

But even the strongest fortress has a crack.

Clint thought he could lock his secret away, but Loki hasn't forgotten the archer's mind-or flashes of the girl who lives inside it. When the shadows of the Tower prove to be a trap rather than a shield, Esme is snatched from the safety of Earth and dragged into the cold, screaming vacuum of space.

Falling through the stars, she realizes that the safety her brother promised was just a beautiful lie, and she must face the most terrifying truth of all: sometimes, the person who kidnaps you is the only one who can keep you alive.