Oh God. How could I have done that? How could I have not turned off the monitor? Stupid stupid stupid. Now he probably thinks I'm ridiculous on top of everything else.

Calm down. This is your job. It's not like you're going down there just to see what he'll say. Right? Just doing my job.

Beth snapped out of her trance when she heard something slamming against metal. Hard.

Shit, what's he doing?

"Beth…" she heard softly. Her pace and heartbeat both quickened. It was definitely Loki; his voice was thick with strain. What happened?

Another slam.

"No. Don't even try, no more words." Beth walked into the room.

It was Steve.

Slamming Loki against the wall.

No.

Without thinking, Beth ran into the mangled door and concentrated all of her energy. As soon as she put her hands up, both men we suspended in the air for a brief second before she sent them flying in opposite directions. Steve hit the opposite wall with a grunt, not without causing a massive dent on contact. Loki, on the other hand, just slid down the wall he was already pushed against, landing with a 'thunk' on the ground.

"What the fuck happened here?!" she yelled. She extended her yellow arms towards both of them and held them, suspended, in the air in front of her. On a closer examination, she saw Steve, glistening with sweat and breathing heavily. His eyes shone with anger and he had a black-and-blue on his upper cheek.

Her heart dropped a little when she saw Loki. His hair was disheveled, and he had a large red bump and a small line of blood on his forehead, not to mention a bleeding cut on his lip and a bruise on his jaw.

Steve fought against Beth's invisible grip, staring at her in shock.

"What is this? What are you?" he asked.

"How could you do this?" she asked in return, "He had nothing to do with this! It was all me. He didn't even know how I felt."

"He's tricking you. Look at him. You know who he is but you won't listen to me."

"You never trusted me!" she yelled.

"Trust? Don't tell me about trust. What is all this? What are you? How could you not have told me about… about… I don't know what the hell!"

She released her grip and both fell again.

"I don't think that was high enough, I can still feel some bones intact." Loki croaked after he landed on the ground.

"Quiet, Loki." Beth threw she turned to Steve, "I couldn't tell anyone. Nobody would understand. You wouldn't have, either. I'm normal."

"None of this isnormal. That's your problem, Beth! You don't trust anyone! At least, except him. Fine, you want to keep being tricked? Go ahead. I'm not sticking around to be made a fool of."

He had courtesy enough to straighten out the door before he slammed it behind him, walking away.

Only then did she remember Loki, lying on the ground.

He got beaten up because of me. There is no way he'll feel anything for me now.

Loki stared up into Beth's concerned face, unsure what to make of what had just happened. He looked her over; her skin was a faded lemony color and she stood quite a few inches taller, with violet hair cascading down her back. Her features still looked human, but her eyes were a brilliant purple to match her hair.

So I WAS right about her name, wasn't I?

He grabbed her hand for help and slowly started to get up. His side was burning; he might have broken a rib. If that wasn't enough, his head still felt like it was being slammed into the cold metal wall repeatedly.

"Well, since you already know." She said with a small, resigned smile. She then lifted her hand and Loki found himself being raised into the air by an invisible force, and then laid gently onto his bed.

"So. Are you going to tell me?" he asked, wincing as he tried to sit upright.

"You need medical attention!" she said, looking him over.

"And what will you tell them then, hmm? I'll be find, I am a god after all."

"But… oh I'm so sorry, he should go picking fights with someone his own size."

Loki stiffened at this; so she thought that he just got beaten up?

"Beth Yrian, do you honestly think that I did not stand a chance against a human? Me?"

She laughed at his ever-cocky demeanor and Loki watched as comprehension dawned on her face. She gently grabbed his hand and looked at him with a mixture of respect and… what else? If he had dared to hope for any better he would have said it was affection; still, he needed to proceed with caution.

"You… you didn't fight back, did you?" she asked softly. He only squeezed her hand in return.

"Do you trust me now?" he smiled.

Beth sighed, "Fine, but let me do something to help you." She gently pressed him down onto the bed, then ran her hands across his body; it was as if all of his muscles started slowly unwinding, though the pain was still present, it lessened to a persistent ache. He tried to move and found that all of his muscles felt at least fifty pounds heavier.

"What did you-?" he asked, confused.

"I took most of the energy out of your muscles so that you can't feel them as much. Don't worry, it'll return in a few hours, I pretty much just put your body to sleep."

"How?"

"Well, remember when you said something about a man named Yrianar? That's my grandfather. He's currently well over a thousand- maybe ten thousand- years old. He's the king of Alfheim, and as your father protects the nine realms, my grandfather sees that the sun rises and sets over them each morning and night. He controls cosmic energy, and the rest of my family extends down from his powers.

My mother, Alevara, can control natural energy- the trees, the wind, the flowers- she's in tune with them all. She and her friends made a trip down to Earth thirty years ago, like most 'young ladies of the court' could do. Only they thought that it would be fun to go on one of those 'mortal tours'; basically they thought it'd be neat to take a tour of the city on a double-decker bus. Their guide was a handsome, young college kid going to NYU who did tours as a summer job. Needless to say, she was infatuated with him at first sight. She made herself look like a human and got him to ask her out, and she would travel down to Earth to go on dates, only telling him that she's from 'out of town'.

When my grandfather found out, he was furious. He wanted to kill my dad, but my mom pleaded with him, so he told her that next time she went down she would have to tell him everything, and if he accepted her then so be it, but if not, she was never to go back to Earth again. So she did just as she was asked. He was shocked, of course, fainted even. But when he came to, she confessed her love to him and he told her that despite it all, he loved her too, and asked to meet her father. He put on a tux and everything, and apparently he left a good impression since I'm here and they're still married. The only trick is my dad refused immortality because he was born a human and wanted to stay one, so when he passes on my mom needs to go back to Alfheim."

She sighed when she finished her story, staring out into space, yet Loki wanted to hear more.

"And you?" he asked quietly.

"Me? Elizabeth Yrian Chednik. I was born here and I've always lived here. I'm twenty eight. Of course I've visited; I've worn the traditional garb and went through some royal ceremonies, but Earth has always been my home. I'm not immortal, but I have an elongated lifespan- probably about five hundred human years. I can control the energy in people: muscles, I think. But I only look like this when I use my powers or when I'm in Alfheim. I can't help when I change, I wish I could. My whole life we've had to constantly move from place to place because I've lost control and changed, so I never really had any friends. I've always scared people off. I felt like I was nothing. So I joined the army for six years and learned to control my mind and body -the military will do that to you- and then I came here. That's… everything, really."

"Thank you for telling me." Was all Loki managed to say. After a long pause, he added, "So you're not human? And you're a princess?"

"Hybrid, and technically, yeah."

Loki could not believe it. Here she was, the small, defiant girl, his jailor, was actually and Alfheimian princess. He also discovered, to his surprise, that when he looked into the violently purple eyes, he still felt the same way. She was still his friend. She was Beth. And the look that had passed between them then no words could describe. They knew, in that instant, that nothing could separate them.

"So… this is what you look like." He said.

"At times yes, it's weird, I know I'm sorry, I look like a freak-"

"-you're perfect."

It took all of Loki's strength to fight his sleeping muscles and press his lips against Beth's.

Author's Note: Hope you all liked that! :) But fear not, this is not the end. I actually have a lot more in mind. At least five to ten more chapters, I'm thinking.