"I knew you would come back to my domain, little pet," Balder's voice greeted you with a seductive purr that made you want to vomit. You knew in that moment that you were asleep. This was a nightmare. Shit. Loki must've thought you were safe from Balder when you had passed out from exhaustion in his arms. "You cannot fight me here. Just do what I say and I will not hurt you," he promised.

His voice was full of lies.

You would know.

The scene around you focused. You were in a throne room. Balder was standing before the throne, as if he had just stepped down. You were in the middle of the room. In your pajamas. Why did you always have to face him in your pajamas? He took a couple steps toward you. You stepped back automatically. You did not want him touching you.

"Don't bother trying to run, pet. It is quite useless while you are asleep," Balder told you with a smirk, stepping even closer, closing the distance between you impossibly fast. Stupid dream physics.

"What do you want from me?" you asked. There had to be a reason he kept attacking your dreams.

"Simple, pet," he said. "You are going to take out all of your superhero friends for me. They are so very in my way." You wanted to kill him for that stupid superior tone.

"No," you told him, taking another step back. You had to get out of there, had to wake up. Now. You tried to feel for your body, your powers, your daggers, Loki, anything, but you were cut off, trapped in this dreamscape with nothing but your wits.

You were doomed.

You had to calm down. Your wits had gotten you out of trouble before. You could find a way out of this too. You just had to wake up.

This was a dream. It was just a dream.

"Whatever you are planning, pet, it will not work. Just do what I say. You will be safe and well taken care of in my kingdom. Look how those awful humans treat you. They use and use you with no regard to your well being. They take and take, and what do they give you in return? Guilt for not helping them more, for not giving more of yourself to them. I know, pet, you feel like you cannot say no to them. Healers are always the same. Let ,e say no for you. Join me, pet," he purred, his tone seductive and persuasive.

"Never," you snarled at him. You turned to flee again. This was a dream and you imagined a wall of flames between you and Balder as you ran. He appeared in front of you and shoved you backwards, hard. You fell on your ass just as hard.

"You will not win, pet. I have far more practice in the dreamscape than you do," he purred. "And I will hold you here until you do as I wish. See?" he asked with a flourish of his hands as you scrambled back to your feet. Your skirt threatened to tangle around your legs as you did. Skirt? You had been wearing one of Loki's tunics. You looked down and growled.

"When did you watch Star Wars?" you demanded as you recognized the certain gold bikini that he was making you wear. "And you do remember to the last asshole who forced someone into this outfit, right? Huttslayer Leia killed his ass." You snarled at him, remembering Space Mom. Space Mom would not give up. You weren't going to either. You focused your imagination. Imagination was the power in the dreamscape. You were in your jeans, your favorite old t-shirt, and your ever-present converse a moment later. Old things, familiar things, were easier to imagine, easier to control in this world.

Familiar things.

Balder picked you up by the throat before you could think, before you could plan. Your wits were being so useless here. You reached automatically for the dagger sheath at your back. Familiar things. You pulled a dagger and slashed it viciously across Balder's face.

He howled in pain and dropped you. You drew another dagger, thanking Loki for the hours and hours and hours you spent practicing with them. Pulling one was such second nature that you could do it even in the dreamscape.

"Enough!" Balder roared. He rushed you. You ducked and dodged. You were small and light, your fighting style was to be out of the way and not get hit. You relaxed into the feeling of zen that came with a sparring match. This, you could handle. You had been practicing with the daggers since before you got your powers. You ducked and spun and sliced at Balder while he roared and clambered after you.

You were doing well until Balder cloned himself. You were outmatched in seconds when there were five of him and only one of you. You couldn't match that power here. Two of them held you while the original one came over, leering at you as he towered over you. "That was a valiant effort, pet, but the game is over. You will scream for me. You will scream, and you will take out all of your super friends while you do. Just give in. Scream now before I make you," he purred, running a hand over your cheek, tucking your hair back away from your face.

You spat in his face with all the viciousness you could muster.

"How many times do I have to tell you never?" you demanded with a snarl, as you struggled against the too-tight grip of the clones holding you. It was no use of course, but you weren't giving up without a fight.

"Very well. Let us see what horrors you have in your past to scream at," he said and placed a hand on your forehead as he drew his magic.

You woke to heat, to an orange light, to the smell of smoke in the air. The house was too warm, even for a summer night. You heard laughter outside and a crackling in the house. Your eyes snapped open and you sat up in bed, panting, though you could barely breathe. Some part of your brain realized that the house was on fire. You had to get out of there, now! You panicked, a terrified child surrounded by flames. You managed to get out from your tangle of covers, then fell to the floor of your bedroom, coughing from the smoke. You half-stumbled, half-crawled from your room. You had to get downstairs, had to get out of the house.

The hallway was a wall of flames. You stumbled through them as fast as you could, trying to make it to the stairs. You crashed down the stairs, coughing from the smoke. You could barely see anything, but this was your home. You knew where every footfall went, each creaky step, and the exact fasted path out of the house. You just had to get there.

You were so scared that you could barely move.

You collapsed at the bottom of the stairs, coughing your lungs out. You had to get out of there. You were going to die. You were just thirteen. You couldn't die.

You somehow got back to your feet and made your way to the foyer. You were almost out of there. You were going to make it.

You stopped dead when you saw your parents, tied to your dining room chairs. Your dining room chairs didn't belong in the foyer. Your brain refused to comprehend what you saw, though you should've understood. You ran to them, tears streaming down your cheeks. "Mom! You have to get up, Mom! We have to get out of here!" you told her, trying to pull her from the chair. It was useless. They were both dead already, shot in the head before the fire even started.

"No!" you snarled, fighting through Balder's dream control. You weren't that scared little thirteen year old girl anymore. You had magic and super powers and fighting skills. You spat blood onto the ground between you and Balder. You had bitten your tongue to keep from screaming. You couldn't scream. You couldn't hurt your friends.

"Hmm. That one is not strong enough anymore? Mother really has helped you heal. Maybe a different memory." Balder mused. You were prepared this time, prepared to fight with everything you had. He couldn't be allowed to win.

Your body froze around your while your mind was trapped inside. Your limbs weren't responding and it was getting worse and worse as the seconds passed. You didn't have time. You managed to reach into your pocket. Fumbled and fumbled to get your phone out. You fought with everything you could to force your numb fingers to type four little letters to Loki 'help'. One more button push and the phone was locked. Arms grabbed you, steering your useless body upstairs.

It was a memory. Just a memory.

"Get out of my head!" you snarled at Balder.

"Just scream for me, pet. One scream and this all stops," he told you. His eyes lit up with an idea. "Of course, you will not scream for yourself,"

No

With a flick of his hands, a bound Loki appeared in front of you. "Scream for his life,"

"You won't kill him," you protested. "If you kill him, I die," you reminded him. Loki looked so scared and confused. You struggled against the clones holding you. They didn't budge. Balder produced a dagger.

"True, but there is a lot of damage I can do before he will die,"

"No, don't!" He ignored you and drove the dagger into Loki's chest. You heard Loki's howl of pain and echoed it with a howl of your own. "NO!" you shrieked, throwing power at the clones holding you.

They flew away with the force of your powers

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Balder backhanded you, throwing you across the room before you could reach Loki.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

What was that annoying noise? It sounded so familiar.

You hands were already glowing blue to heal Loki.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Balder plunged the dagger into Loki again.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

"NO!" you shrieked, loudly enough that the windows in the throne room all shattered

"A fire has been reported. Please exit the compound in an orderly manner"

You ran for Loki.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Balder held the dagger to Loki's throat.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Water? Where was that water coming from? Hands? Hands on you? Lifting you?

FALLING! You were falling falling! Wake! UP!