You allowed yourself the tears, the heartbreak, the hopelessness. You allowed yourself the grief, if only for a little while. You only had a little while to grieve. You had a shit ton of work to do if you were going to find a way out of this. You only had your wits to work with right now.

You were doomed.

You shook those thoughts away. There had to be a way out of this. There had to be. So you laid on the bed and closed your eyes. You had a small semblance of an idea. At least a starting place on where to look for a plan. You hadn't gotten only Loki's powers through the soulbond, you also got all of his learning and years of study. There might be something in all of that knowledge and study that would help you now.

You took inventory of what you had to work with. You couldn't use your powers or Loki's while your powers were bound. You needed to get Balder to take the manacles off. That would take some lying. You could handle a little lying. You had gotten better at it in your time knowing Loki too, he was known for having a silver tongue for a reason as well as being the god of lies. You needed to make the lie convincing, though. That would take more work...

You also had the soulbond. There was power in the soulbond itself, you knew, and it didn't follow the same rules as your natural abilities, or the abilities you had gained from Loki. You rummaged through the information you had at your disposal, looking for anything you and Loki had studied about the soulbond that might help. You noticed that new pieces of information were being added and you smiled. Loki was researching the soulbond too. You tried to reach him through it, to touch those new pieces of information as they were added, to let him know you were there, but you couldn't reach. You needed some kind of catalyst to boost the signal enough for him to make the connection. He couldn't find you through the shielding to make the connection on his end and you couldn't make the reach without boosting the soulbond.

How to make the boost...

Your thoughts were interrupted when a servant burst in to the room and brought you a tray of food. You automatically thanked them. Thank all the gods that you only murmured it. That didn't stop him from ending up on the ground, unconscious. Two other servants dragged the first one out of the room while glaring at you. You just clapped your hands over your mouth horrified at what you'd done.

You had to be more careful.

You were left for days or longer in that cell. You lost track of time way too quickly. Balder occasionally came to visit. You guessed it was once a day. He always wanted to see if you were willing to join his side yet. You kept finding different ways of telling him to go away and leave you alone. You were avoiding telling him to fuck off. You didn't want to give him any ideas. You don't know how he was doing it, but he was also forcibly draining your magical energy when he came to visit. You knew you were a disgusting mess. You hadn't bathed since he kidnapped you. He kept promising you would be treated like a queen the second you gave in and joined him. He was torturing you until then.

Asshole.

You desperately needed to get out of that cell soon.

You rifled through every piece of information and knowledge and learning that Loki had given you, ever piece of learning you had gained through your own studies. Something had to be able to boost the signal of the soulbond, something had to let you get through the shields, through the powerblocks.

Then you got the answer. It was arcane magic and something that Loki wasn't supposed to have studied. Frigga would be disappointed to learn he had anyway. You were just grateful for the knowledge right that moment. The answer was stupidly simple.

Blood.

Blood could boost the power of magic. It was unethical to use someone else's blood without their consent of course, but that wasn't necessary now. You just had to figure out where to get the blood you needed. Your split lip had long since healed and it wouldn't be logical to bang your face up more to reopen it, plus that would be even more obvious what you were up to. After searching the room, you managed to find a loose screw in the bed-frame. That would do.

You laid on the bed with your back to the door as you steeled your nerves for this. It was going to suck, but it was the only way. You needed help and you needed magic to make the lie convincing. This lie had to be the most convincing one that was ever told. You had to make Balder believe you without any doubts.

But where to make the cut? You was limited on where you could reach because of the manacles on your wrists. You finally decided on your left arm, near the soulbond marks, where you could make it look like you slipped and fell and cut your arm on the bed-frame or something. It was difficult with only a screw, but you managed, and smeared your blood over the soulbond. You felt the power in the soulbond pulse and flare. Loki! you thought down that pulse as loudly as you could.

You felt his telepathic presence in your mind an instant later. /Finally! I couldn't find you, my darling. Are you alright?/

Is the connection secure? you asked him, thinking the ASL signs for the words instead of the words. You couldn't risk your request being overheard by another telepath. No one in Asgard besides Loki knew ASL.

/It is secure. No one can overhear us/ Loki reassured you quickly so you didn't have to work so hard to answer him. You sighed in relief. That made this a lot easier /Are you alright?/ he repeated.

I'm not injured you told him truthfully. But I need help. You wished you had proper magic, as sending telepathic messages without proper telepathy was much more difficult.

/I still cannot sense where you are/ Loki growled across the connection.

I know. Balder said this place is really well shielded. So you can't even find me through the soulbond. I'm going to have to get out of here on my own.

/I'll come find you, love/ He promised.

You can't, not until I at least get out of this building. You reminded him of what you'd literally just said.

/You said you need help?/ He asked, knowing you wouldn't have long. At least he got back on topic.

My powers are bound. I need to trick Balder into unbinding them and I need a couple of illusions for that. You explained to Loki quickly.

/What illusions do you need?/ You hesitated and couldn't believe that you was asking this of him. This was going to hurt him so much for you to ask. /Just tell me what it is, darling. I will do anything to get you out of there safely/ Of course he could feel your emotions across the bond and knew you were upset about asking.

So you told him the two illusions you needed. They were in place instantly.

/I cannot hold the connection. Whatever you did to boost the signal past the shields is fading. I promise we are all looking for you. Is there anything, anything you can see that might help us?/ Loki asked, desperation in his voice.

You stood up on the bed to look out the tiny window. There's snow outside. That's all I can see.

/That's a help. There are not many places with snow this time of year. We will find you, and I will kill that idiot brother of mine/

Whatever happens, whatever you may overhear, please, do not believe a word I say after this: I love you. you told him as you felt the connection fizzle away. You prayed that you had gotten enough of his silver tongue to pull this off.

You steeled yourself, going over your plan again and again while you waited for Balder to come back. This would have to be the best act you'd ever done and the best lies that ever came out of your mouth. There would be no second chances, no room for any doubt, and Balder would have to believe every word that came out of your mouth. So you went over your lines and your plan again and again and again, until you heard his ever so polite knock on the metal door.

Showtime.