First off, I would like to apologize to anyone generous enough to follow my story because it's been so long since I last posted. A lot of things have been happening in my life but I assure you they will not stop me from finishing this story. So please leave comments if you like it, and comments if you don't. I'm curious to hear what you have to say about it so far**

It was with deep regret in which Amora woke the following morning. The sunlight streaming in through the blinds was terribly bright to her slowly opening eyes so she rolled over in attempt to drown it out and drift back into her slumber. But as she readjusted, her hands grazed against something smooth and silk. Not recognizing the material, she cracked an eye open to identify what the strange fabric was.

That was when her eyes snapped open fully and she abruptly sat up straight from her bed.

Memories began flooding their way back to her, as she clutched onto the material in her hands - which she had now identified as a cape - and momentarily froze.

It was no dream she realized finally. Last night was real –he was real. After her mind had registered on that, she allowed herself to exhale finally, not realizing she had been holding her breath.

She glanced about her surroundings - she was in the same room he dropped her off in, and now that it was brighter and she wasn't so exhausted, she could fully take in her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was the table with an assortment of food arranged on top. Someone, maybe Loki, had obviously come before she awoke and placed it there for her, after all, why else would his cape be here if he hadn't visited? She looked around, becoming aware that whoever came, likely may still be there. But after a brief assessment of the room, she knew she was alone. There was also another door leading to what she assumed was a small bath, a warobe, a full length mirror propped on the floor, pictures of unfamiliar artwork hanging on the wall, and a huge window - almost as big as the one Loki had.

Falling back down upon the pillows, she allowed her mind to replay everything that happened last night, unable to help the smile from growing on her lips. She remembered the softness of his hands as they held her own or grazed her cheeks. The intoxicating scent of his skin, which she could still smell faintly on his cape. And his beautiful accent, that matched her own, yet coupled with his rousing voice, she felt she could listen to him speak for hours about nothing at all and still be indubitably engaged. And don't even get her started on his appearance. He was everything she imagined he would be, and yet so much more.

So many questions she had about him. He asked of her to wait, so he could try his methods first, which she respected. And it had only been a day, but simply could not wait any longer. What was he to her? A boyfriend? Lover? Husband? How did they end up together? And what was her family like? Did she even have any? Where were they? Or how did she end up on an entirely different realm? Was it an acident? War? Intentional?

After an overly sufficient amount of time spent day-dreaming, she decided it was time be up. Drawing back the covers, she slid out of bed, still only in a bra and underwear, and made a beeline for the bathroom, deciding she would start the day with a bath. Shutting the door behind her, her jaw fell slightly. It was adorned in the same extravagance, and the bathtub was more like a small hot tub. She turned the tap, finding the temperature was immediately warm. So she went to the oils and chose the first bottle she picked - it smelled of fresh roses to which she always had a predilection towards. Ridding the rest of her clothing, she slipped into the warm water, cherishing the feel of it. She quickly realized she could easily spend the whole day in here if she didn't watch the time. It felt so perfect and she suddenly became envious of her former self. Had she always woken to this luxury every morning if she so desired? Loki did tell her this was her home...

Loki. Amora's heart warmed at the thought of him again. Did he ever join her for a bath? She smiled at that last thought and unconsciously bit her lip. He probably had.

The whole situation was simply unexpected. When Amora had dreamed of Loki coming to her, she never expected him to come for her so urgently, and bring her to an entirely different...well, different world. Who in their right minds would? Yet somewhere within her, this felt right, more than anything she had ever felt before. She couldn't explain it and it was against all other logic, but all this just made more sense to her - the way people talked, the extravagance, the formalities, the apparent patriarchy, etc. She may not agree with it all, but it agreed with her with indistinct familiarity. If her intuition was any indication that she should trust him, she did not know what was.

After Amora finished her bath, she wrapped herself in a towel and nearly began panicking over what she would wear before quickly finding her answer. Luckily, the person, whoever it had been, had also left her a dress to which she found lying at the other end of her bed. She picked it up, allowing her eyes to scan the foreignness of it. It was made of purple silk, with laces in the front and a delicate trimming on the edges which was long enough to go to her ankles. Overall, despite it's unusual fashion, she thought the dress was beautiful and a fitting match to the environment she delved in.

After slipping it on - it fit perfectly - she settled herself at the table. She went straight for the berries, tossing a few in her mouth as she scoped for other options. There was a large variety, some things she didn't even know the name of. She sampled everything and just as she began to wonder what to do with herself next, there sounded a soft knock on the door.

She froze momentarily.

"Miss?"

Amora stood from her chair and opened the door, finding a young maid standing on the other side. "Yes?"

"The prince requests your presence in the library this morning, my lady. I am to escort you after you are finished breakfast."

Amora wrinkled her eyebrows, "The prince?"

"Yes, my lady," she said. "Prince Loki. He said you would be ready around this time."

"Oh," she replied in slight disbelief. Although, come to think of it, it made a lot of sense, she thought, shooting a glance to his cape which lay ruffled within the sheets. She hoped he didn't mind that she wrinkled it. Amora did begin to wonder however how exactly Loki knew when she would be ready by. Did he simply know her that well?

Looking back to the maid she replied, "Okay. I suppose I'm ready now."

"Very well, my lady. Right this way."

Loki was sitting a little ways away, in a pile of dusty books, several of them cracked open, as he was apparently trying to read out through them all at the same time. Before approaching him, Amora paused, taking a moment to fully prepare herself emotionally for the breathtaking man before her. He was wearing the same clothing from yesterday, his hair unkempt and attention fully focused on his task. She frowned slightly– had he stayed up all night for her?

"Good morning," she said, alerting her presence to him.

"Is it?" he replied distantly, still fixated upon whatever it was he was reading. It certainly did not compare to the kind of greeting he gave her yesterday, not that she expected that. But at least some kind of interest in her presence would have been nice.

"What is all this Loki?" she asked him, with concern.

"Books, obviously,"

Amora reeled back – the bitterness in his tone surprised her. Was something wrong?

"Have you stayed up all night?" she tried again.

He ignored her, focused wholly upon the overwhelming amount of information in front of him. She tired a more direct approach and stepped up to his side, "Look I know how much this means to you, but you don't need to sacrifice your sleep for me. I'm not going anywhere."

The book he was currently read closed with a loud snap. "Please stop–"

Her eyes furrowed in blatant confusion, "I'm sorry?"

"I will not have you speak to me as if you know anything about me," he replied, standing from the chair, intimating her with his height, and then walking away from her.

"I know these are very difficult circumstances for both of us," she told him honestly, looking at him as though she had never heard something so mental. "But I'm only trying to understand–"

"And I said stop!" he shouted, instantly stunning her in silence.

That certainly made her pause. What had she done to deserve such anger? And why was he acting as if she was the last person he wanted to be with right now?

"Why did you call me here if you clearly want nothing to do with me?" She asked him, angrily.

"That's not–" he calmed slightly, finally taking a step to shrink the huge void that he had placed between them. "That's not what I meant." She watched him in silence waiting for any additional explanation. He then sighed, threading his fingers through his hair and briefly scanning over his texts before looking back up to her. "I'd simply prefer we'd skip the small talk, until your mind has sorted itself out."

Oh, she realized. It was with dread that Amora understood that he did not like her this way, at all. He needed her memory back, but what if that simply wasn't possible? She quickly cast that thought away, knowing she didn't want the answer to that quite yet.

She took a seat beside the one he previously sat in, choosing her next words very carefully. "For now, I will do as you ask. But I cannot - and I will not - wait forever."

He gave a curt nod, a small indication that he had heard her.

"I need to go within your mind again."

Now that he was facing her, she could see the prominent lines under his eyes as the aftermath of his sleep deprivation and also the sorrow within his eyes.

"Okay," she said.

"I'm going to push you further than I had before."

"Just do whatever you must," she replied, her gaze distant.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched him return to his chair beside her with a glass in his hand held out to her. Remembering that it was a potion, she took it wordlessly and drank it.

"Are you ready, darling?" he asked, after he took the glass away.

Her eyes instinctively moved to look up at him at the sound of the affectionate little sobriquet. He may be distancing himself, but it wasn't because he didn't care.

She nodded, and he lifted his hands, pressing them into her temples, and just like that, she was lost.

Her heartbeat was the first thing she could focus on. It was steady surprisingly, unlike yesterday.

Good Amora, Loki's voice sound in her head. Keep doing exactly as your doing.

Okay, she told him not actually knowing if she could actually communicate that way but assumed he received her response regardless. She started fading away again, being pulled by something she now recognized as Loki - or his presence at least.

Thump-thump.

Thump-thump.

Thump-thump.

There was an unmistakable feeling of his presence stiffing through other areas of her mind. She didn't understand what he was doing now, nor could she find it in her to care. All that mattered was her heartbeat – it was all that she had. The one thing she could depend on, that wouldn't falter in the changing of winds.

By now, everything had become utterly foreign, and she found herself completely lost within the depths of her vastly complicated mind. The only reason she didn't panic this time, was because she could still feel his presence within in her mind, and as long as she could feel that, she had no reason to panic.

A glimmer of something appeared and then it faded. As she looked around for it, it appeared again, more strongly. They were there, and she could see them this time. Images of places and people were suddenly passing through her brain, like a swarm of bees, flying just out of her reach. Not recognizing the majority of them, her mind instantly pinpointed and focused on the ones of Loki. Glimpses of him laughing were her favorite. In these moments he was open and unguarded, unlike the version of him who was currently sitting right in front of her. But in contrast to the others, there was only a mere fraction of memories that included him. There were many more of a younger girl with the same hair color as her. And also an older man and woman who bared a striking resemblance to her too... Amora's heart sunk in her chest as she realized with deep regret.

Her family?

Regret filled her as it suddenly occurred to her, she had been so preoccupied in finding Loki, that she had completely neglected the existence of her family.

With renewed vigor, she scanned for more of the younger girl whom she assumed was her sister, and that's when the strangest thing happened. There were a string of memories that included the palace, and Loki too, but the emotion that rippled off of them was astounding. They instantly redirected her from accessing them, as if they were fighting back. She was pushed nearly all the way back into reality, and she would have been if it were not for how stubborn she was on the matter. She trudged on, tuning back to her heart beat.

You need to stop Amora, Loki finally spoke, warning her. Your mind can't handle it.

I can do this, she told him, pushing on despite the struggle it felt to do so. I nearly had them.

No, Amora. It's done.

His words and dejection was enough to snap her out of it, and when she opened her eyes back into reality, exhaustion quickly took the better of her, fading everything out completely.

As they parted minds, Amora immediately toppled over from pure exhaustion. Loki caught her in his arms before she fell to the ground, his mind still lingering on the information he had learned. He continued mulling it over in his mind as he scooped her up and vanished them both to his chambers, where his more advanced magic books were kept.

After gently placing her on his bed - it would be a while until she regained consciousness again - he settled for a contemplative walk around his chambers.

What ever was within her mind, preventing her memories from resurfacing - it wasn't blocking certain parts of her brain like he had first perceived. It was defending itself.

That small detail made a huge difference.

Because something mindlessly blocking versus something fighting back meant that he couldn't simply find it – no. That would be too easy. He had to fight back.

But her dreams are what astounded him the most, especially now that he'd had the pleasure of viewing some of them. He didn't think she would notice him stifling through other parts of her brain, so he took full advantage. He learned she was true to her word, and Amora remembered nothing prior to two years ago with the exception of these dreams. But why allow her glimpses of anything, least of all him? What was the motivation of this thing?

He wandered back over to her, simply gazing upon her form. How beautiful she was, how lovely the sight of her in his bed looked. And how, now that her features had loosened, her face held no trace of worry or confusion. It was almost as though none of this had ever happened and that she was simply sleeping the day in his bed.

Oh, how he wished that were true - how simpler life would be. He would crawl into bed beside her, wrapping his arms around her and waking her up with a a kiss to her neck. When her eyes fluttered open he would kiss those lovely red lips, until it no longer was enough. He could easily waste an entire day away in his bed with her, if only she could remember.

But that simply was not the way that things were and reality was a harsh place. He knew that for a while now.

Instead he took her hand, turning it over and held it within his own. It was soft and warm, and he leaned down and kissed it. "I'm going to fix you, little one."

KittyBear98 Thank you!

Kathrynrose42 Thank you - I'm so glad that you like it!