Coursework is done, ditch of depression has been more or less climbed out of for now, exams aren't for another month or so, so hopefully I'm actually back now.

This is a pretty short chapter unfortunately but we're moving towards the actual plot.

A nightmare. Loki knew that was what it was from the second the memory started to play but he couldn't wake up, couldn't pull himself from the depths of sleep, no matter how hard he tried.

It was one he'd had so many times before. He was in the gallery in Stuttgart. Since they'd read his mind it had become so much more vivid and sharp, and all the more horrifying for knowing it was real, not just a fever dream or a hallucination planted in his mind by the Mad Titan.

The world was strange through these eyes, like looking through a blue bottle, distorted and dark. Sounds were muffled in his ears and nothing felt quite real. Exactly how it had been the first time. The dark magic hadn't just effected his control of his own body, it had poisoned his mind and memories.

His footsteps echoed through the hallways as he walked confidently towards his destination. At the time, this had all felt right, like he'd been fighting for a useful cause, not like he'd been destroying lives.

That was the worst part, he knew now. Not just that he'd committed the crimes he had, but that they'd felt reasonable, logical. No-one from his new life would ever know this, that the influence hadn't just been simple mind control, like with Barton or Selvig, but a manipulation of his morals and a painful twisting of his logic.

He entered the hall calmly but with a malicious smirk plastered on his face, staying almost disinterested until the security guard had approached him, then all hell broke loose.

Loki swung the transmuted sceptre at him without mercy, down the rest of the stairs before the man, unconscious or possibly even dead, had hit the floor.

He choose his target from the crowd with ease, pinning him down against the altar with barely a second though. Any second now the man would start screaming and pleading for mer-

Wait.

This was different.

No, Gods no. Not this.

This time the man his hand held against the cold, polished stone slab was Bruce, struggling to be free of his grip. There was a look of fear in his eyes that Loki had never seen on the real Bruce and hoped never to see again, but his face was grim, almost resigned to his fate. He didn't say a word but that didn't stop Loki removing the device from his coat with a grin. He didn't even flinch at the sight of his lover in front of him, just slammed the spinning blades right into Bruce's eye-socket like he had done with the original scientist. He basked in the fear and screams of those he'd thought at the time of lesser beings surrounding him, paying no attention to the blood splattering onto his suit.

Inside his head, Loki screamed.

"-Loki? Loki wake up!"

His eyelids snapped open, tears blurring his vision.

"Jesus, you scared me." Bruce said. "I thought you were having a seizure or something."

Loki didn't reply, just taking deep, shaking breaths. Every time he blinked, he saw the nightmare tattooed on the insides of his eyelids. Instead of focussing on that, he looked up at Bruce. His bare skin was damp and his greying hair was dripping. He'd obviously only just got out of the shower, the water reflecting the light coming through the window and and making his skin shimmer in the morning sun. Loki sat up slowly and leant into his bare chest.

"Good morning." He said finally.

"Good morning to you too." Bruce sat back, looking more relieved now. "Are you okay?"

"All the better for being awake," Loki said quietly, rubbing his eyes. He paused for a second then smiled slightly. "And the company isn't doing me any harm."

The doctor smiled back at him but Loki could still see the worry in his dark eyes.

"I'm fine now. It was just a bad dream."

"That didn't sound like 'just a bad dream'."

"If you must know, they've been worse since my most recent imprisonment." He said softly.

Bruce nodded silently and stood up, padding across the room to the drawers to find clean clothes.

"Where are you going?" Loki said, noticing too late how fast he'd said that.

"I have a few house calls to make, some people that need checking up on. I wasn't going to wake you, it won't take that long." Bruce smiled slightly, either not noticing or ignoring the demigod's rare show of fear. "And you're too cute when you're asleep."

"What about when I'm awake?" He said with a smirk.

"Sometimes."

The demigod's eyes followed Bruce around the room as he, disappointingly, pulled his clothes on. "Only sometimes?"

Bruce smiled again and shook his head. "I missed you."

Loki stood up, stretching, and leant on Bruce's shoulder as he tried to dress.

"I missed you too." He whispered in the doctor's ear. "If you need any assistance today, I may be of some use."

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "What do you know about medicine?"

"More than you seem to think. If I wasn't a prince, perhaps I could have been a healer."

"Somehow I see you more as someone like Tony. Y'know, spending more time blowing stuff up than putting it back together."

Loki smirked. "Quite probably."

"Are you sure about this?"

"I doubt sitting around here alone will do me much good. Besides that, I only came out here to find you." He smirked slightly again. "Now I have done that, I've other plans and I want there to be enough time to fulfil them."

Bruce swallowed as the demigod gently trailed his fingers over Bruce's shoulder and jawline.

"Don't tempt me." He said hoarsely.

"Oh, I won't." Loki grinned. "Not yet, anyway."