EMILY POV
When I woke up, my chest was heaving and I was slightly sweaty from the nightmare I just had. I couldn't remember it very well, which was unusual. I remembered flashes of it, I knew it was something to do with HYDRA, but the rest was just replaced by cracking fire. My whole vision had been full of it, it was terrifying, I had honestly through I was burning to death or something.
But as I looked around me, I realized that I was back in Loki's room, but he was nowhere to be seen. I reached out to pull the sheets off my legs, but as soon as I came touched the sheets, burning pain travelled up both my arms. I let out a strangled cry of pain and immediately brought both my hands back to my chest, cradling them. As the pain began to fade away, I slowly took my hands away from my chest, expecting to see sparks or fire, but they were completely power-free. I moved my fingers slightly and felt a tingling sensation, similar to pins and needles, but more mild. I reached out to touch the sheets again and the same blinding pain travelled up my arms, causing tears to prick in my arms. I held my hands close to my chest and shuffled out of the bed, trying not to touch the sheets. I reached the door and grabbed the door handle, twisting it and opening up the door, but as soon as I did, the same blinding pain travelled up my arm and I collapsed against the door as it swung open. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly and tumbled to the floor, curling up into a ball, clutching my hands close to my chest.
"Lady Emily?" Came Thor's voice and I curled myself up tighter as his heavy footfalls came closer to me. "Lady Emily, are you alright? Did my brother hurt you?" I shook my head, unable to form any words due to the pain travelling up and down my arms. Thor gently touched my arm and as soon as his skin made contact with mine, pain rippled through my body and I let out a cry. Thor immediately took his hand away.
"Lady Emily?" His voice was full of worry. "What is wrong?"
"It hurts." I managed to gasp out, tears beginning to roll down my cheeks as I stayed curled up in a ball.
"What hurts?" Urged Thor.
"My arms." I whimpered and Thor reached out again, quickly rolling me onto my back, trying to keep the skin contact to a minimum, but pain still flared through my body.
"My apologies Lady Emily." He said before his expression turned grave as he looked down at my arms. "We need to get you to the healers immediately." I raised my head weakly as I tried to see what was wrong with my arms and my eyes widened. My skin was normal on the outside, but underneath my skin, it seemed to be rippling with pulsing shades of orange, like something was alive underneath.
"What's happened to me?" I whimpered, slowly sitting up and looking down at my arms in fear.
"I do not know." Thor replied. "But we need to get you to the healers immediately." I struggled to stand to my feet, the pain in my arms slowly spreading across my chest and neck. Thor walked over to the lift and pressed the button to open it up as I followed him in. He pressed the engraved 4 and immediately the lift doors shut, the lift travelling up. It opened a couple of seconds later to the glass wall that was the outside of the Lab/Hospital that I had seen on my first day.
Thor put his hand on the pad outside the door and it beeped, the glass door opening. I clutched my hands closer to my chest, not wanting to bump against anything and cause myself anymore pain. The sound of metal clinking together reached my ears and I managed to see Tony at the same work bench as yesterday, his face covered by the same mask.
"Stark!" Thor's loud voice echoed across the whole Lab and both Tony and Bruce, who had been sitting at a desk writing something, looked up, Bruce seeming slightly startled.
"What can I do for you Point Break?" Asked Tony, taking off his mask. Thor gestured to me and Tony looked at me, though I was probably too far away for him to see the orange under my skin. Bruce stood up and began to make his way over to me and I watched him fearfully. When he was about three metres away from me, his eyes widened as they travelled up and down my body. I knew that my neck was also like my arms, I could feel it.
"Tony, you need to come see this." Bruce said, not taking his eyes off me.
"Do you know what is wrong?" Demanded Thor.
"Not exactly." Bruce said, taking his glasses off like he didn't really believe what he was seeing. Tony walked over and he whistled in surprise, his eyes widening as well.
"Well, I was not expecting that." He said, stepping closer to me and reaching to touch my hand, but I took a step back, shaking my head as I looked at him fearfully.
"It hurts whenever I touch something." I said, sniffling. Bruce looked at Tony before looking back at me, putting his glasses back on.
"Can you take the bracelets off?" He asked and I nodded, slowly taking my hands away from my chest. I reached for the bracelets and as soon as I touched them, my hand was filled with the sharp pain and the orange under my skin pulsed. I swallowed back my cry of pain, not wanting to appear any weaker that I already was, and slid my finger along both bracelets, letting them fall from my wrist. Tony moved to catch them before they fell to the floor, but as soon as they came in contact with his skin, he pulled his hand back, letting out a hiss of pain and clutching his hand to his chest. A string of swears followed and both Bruce and Thor glared at him before their attention was drawn away but the bracelets on the floor which were beginning to smoke.
"What on Earth?" Bruce said quietly, crouching down to look at the bracelets.
"Don't touch them." Tony warned. "They're white hot." He held out his hand and I saw that there was a blistering burn in the middle of his palm. Tony looked up at me and immediately scrambled back a step.
"Whoa, flaming goddess is back." He said and both Thor and Bruce's eyes darted to me. I held my hands out and saw that I was indeed on fire. I stepped away from them, my eyes darting between all three of them.
"I think it's the bracelets." Tony spoke up after a couple of seconds of silence. "They seem to be restricting her power too much." Bruce's eyebrows furrowed and he walked over to the bench he had just been sitting at, opening up a drawer and pulling out a folder full of paper. He opened it up on the desk and went through it until her found what he was looking for.
"I think I know how to change it." He said, setting down the piece of paper and picking up the still steaming bracelets with a cloth before he looked up at Tony. "You should get Loki to heal that burn, it looks like it hurts."
"It hurts like a bitch." Tony muttered before quickly looking up at me. "Not that its your fault, I just wasn't thinking when I went to grab them." I nodded and looked back down at my flaming hands, fisting my hands to try and put out the flames but it didn't work.
"JARVIS." Said Tony. "Can you grab Reindeer Games?" I closed my eyes and tried the breathing technique Wanda had taught me. I tried to picture the city and focused on breathing in and out deeply.
"Mr. Laufeyson is not currently in Stark Tower." JARVIS replied and everyone stopped, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"What do you mean he's currently not in Stark Tower?" Tony asked.
"Exactly that Sir." JARVIS replied and Thor looked up at the ceiling.
"Well, where is he then?" He demanded.
"I lost contact with him as he disappeared from his room." JARVIS said.
"So, he teleported somewhere?" Tony asked, turning to Thor, who nodded, a grave look on his face. "Well, that's no help! I've got work to do, I can't do it with a half burnt hand!" I flinched as he raised his voice and all of their eyes darted to me and Tony looked apologetic.
"Emily, why don't you go see Wanda?" He said softly. "She might be able to control the whole fire thing." He gestured to my flaming body and I nodded, turning around and beginning to walk away. I heard heavy footfalls behind me and looked over my shoulder to see Thor following me.
"I'm going to find my brother." He said before I could ask anything.
"Do you know where he is?" I asked quietly, walking out of the Lab door as he held it open for me.
"I have a feeling he may have gone back to our home." He replied. "Back to Asguard."
Asguard.
My brain was immediately full of a dream I had when I had fallen unconscious. I had never heard of Asguard in my life, but my brain immediately connected it with the dream. I had a feeling Loki may have put it in my head during training, but now my suspicions were confirmed.
"Asguard?" I repeated. "The place with the big golden palace?" Thor immediately stopped and I only noticed when I didn't feel his heavy footfalls anymore. I turned around and saw him watching me with a dark expression, which startled me slightly.
"How do you know about Asguard?" He demanded, taking a step towards me and I took one back.
"Loki showed it to me during training." I said timidly. "I lost control and he put it in my head to calm me down." Thor paused for a moment before relaxing and nodding.
"Sorry for scaring you Lady Emily." He said. "It's just that not many mortals know about Asguard. Not even the mortals in this building know about it. Loki must really trust you to show you Asguard." He looked down at me, something else in his eyes and I looked away, unnerved by the look he was giving me.
"How would you feel about coming to Asguard with me?" Asked Thor after a couple of seconds of silence and I looked up at him sharply. "My mother might be able to help you control your power, she could teach you somethings too. I think you should."
I hesitated for a moment, looking down at my flaming hands before I looked back at Thor and after a couple of seconds, I nodded softly. He broke out into a big grin and opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Wanda.
"Oh my god Emily." She breathed and I spun around to see her walking towards me. "Are you okay?"
"She just needs you to calm her down." Thor spoke up before I could and Wanda nodded, hurrying over to me and sending a gentle strand of her magic to my forehead. Instantly, all worrying thoughts left my head and I stumbled back in surprise as my fire died down.
"My telepathy powers are a little different to Loki's." She said at my shocked expression. "I'm better at rearranging thoughts whereas he just adds thoughts." I nodded and looked down at my hands, only to see that there was no trace of fire anywhere on me. The orange pulsing had even disappeared.
"Thank you." I said, looking up at Wanda with a small smile.
"No problem." She smiled back. "There's lunch downstairs, you missed it when you were sleeping after training."
"Emily and I are actually going somewhere." Thor replied before I could say anything. Wanda's eyes widened in surprise before she nodded slowly. Thor gently nudged me towards the lift and Wanda followed us, though she pressed the engraved 1 while Thor pressed the 7. The lift went up to the seventh level first and when the door opened, I saw that we were on a helipad at the very top of the Tower. Thor stepped out and I hesitantly followed him, the wind whipping through my hair as I looked out at the blue sky. The lift doors slid shut and Thor walked to the middle of the Helipad, waiting for me. I walked over to him and he held his hand out to me, causing me to look at him cautiously.
"You may want to hold on." He grinned. "The Bifrost can be quite rough the first time."
"Bifrost?" I repeated, slowly taking his hand. Thor grinned at me again and looked up at the clear blue sky.
"Heimdall!" He called out loudly and there was a loud rumble from the sky. A couple of seconds later, a light came barreling down from the clear sky and surrounded us. I immediately jumped and Thor held onto me tightly as the light lifted us up, away from the Helipad. I watched the city become further and further away as we travelled up into the sky. It was too much for my anxiety and blacked out.