Author's note: Hello! For all of you who have read my other story (Secret File) I do apologize that I am being very lazy with the updates. The ideas are very annoying and seem to be dithering between cooperating and staying aggravatingly beyond my mental grasp. For the gap between updates I do apologize. So I have decided to start a few new stories.

Reviews would be lovely and I will try to address all questions directed towards me!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story…

Looking Back…

At the trial

Loki was knelt on the ground in front of the throne. He refused to look at anyone in the room; from his brother who had brought him there, to his mother who just wanted to make sure he was ok, to his father looking down upon him guiltily thinking he had caused Loki to go mad. The council sat along the sides of the throne room and looked on at Loki with hate and distrust. Sif and the Warriors Three stood next to the thrones trying to stay impassive as Loki was judged.

"Loki Odinson," Odin All-Father said as he stood up. He looked unbelievably sad. He looked grief-stricken, guilt-ridden, and slightly betrayed. The deepened lines in his face gave away how much this situation was actually tearing him apart. Not that it mattered – Loki still refused to look at anyone or anything but his knees. His hands were roughly chained behind his back and the metal gag around his mouth denied him the ability to speak his mind.

"Loki," Odin began again, "for your crimes committed against Midgard, Jotunheim, and Asgard, the council has thought long and hard on what would be a suitable punishment for one such as you."

Would father mercy him at all? Thor wondered worriedly as Odin seemed to hesitate upon actually announcing the punishment. He cast his gaze at Loki once more and flinched inwardly as he again took in his appearance. After their return to Asgard Loki had been confined to his chambers until the Trial would be held and he was denied any contact from family, friends, or healers. Throughout the whole ordeal on Midgard he had looked thinner than usual, his features more gaunt and daunting looking than before his fall. He now looked like a starved wolf looking for anything – any escape. His clothes hung on him as if he were a stick figure and there were dark rings under his eyes displaying his inability – or was it a simple refusal? – to sleep. His wounds from the battle on Midgard had not been healed and all-in-all he looked as though Hel had come and gone already.

"You are to be imprisoned in the deepest cell under highest security in a prison outside of the city. You will be away from other citizens and forbidden from any form of contact from anyone other than Frigga, Thor, and myself," Odin sentenced Loki with a voice that sounded completely confident as to assure the council that no other punishment was necessary but his heart was heavy and Thor could see it in his eyes.

The carelessness with which the sentence was given was read incorrectly by Loki, though, and he took it as an affirmation of the imagined hate Odin had for him. He didn't make a noise though and finally deigned Thor with his gaze. Thor had seen this look before: it was the deceptive calm. The moment before the ice broke, before the bomb exploded, before Loki punished whoever had humiliated him. Thor had seen it many a time when Loki was pulling a prank but when Loki wore that face now, Thor was worried. What was Loki thinking now?

Two guards hauled Loki to his feet and started escorting him out of the throne room to the prison which would be Loki's home for an undeterminable amount of time.

1 week later

Thor paced around his bedchambers nervously. This would be the first time Thor visited Loki during his incarceration and he was worried: would Loki talk to him? He desperately wanted to know why Loki had done it and he wasn't going to leave without an answer.

As he started out of the palace he caught sight of his mother sitting in her garden under a tree. She was holding something to her chest and looked despairingly at the ground. Thor walked over to his mother and sat down beside her. Frigga looked up and smiled at him. "Thor," she greeted him.

"Mother, I'm going to see Loki today. Have you visited him yet?" Thor asked with his usual lack of tact.

Frigga clasped the object tighter to her chest and nodded. The object was a small, intricately carved box with a spell winding itself around the edge, sealing it closed.

Noting her reaction he quickly backpedaled and thought of a way to comfort his beloved mother. He reached an arm around her shoulders and gently hugged her, but he still had to know, "How did he seem to you?"

Frigga let her hair drift over her shoulder to slightly obscure her face and took a strengthening breath. She was a strong woman and was not about to let this break her. She brushed her hair away, wiped her eye where a tear had dared to form and looked at her oldest son, "He's changed, Thor. Something happened to him after he fell." She paused as the tear formed itself again and fell down her face, "I so desperately want him back, Thor."

Thor thought about this: something had happened to Loki when he fell… so what could that something be? He, too, had noticed a change when he saw Loki on Midgard and now that someone else mentioned it he was sure something had happened – something Loki wasn't letting on about. "I'll talk to him, mother," Thor said as he stood up.

Frigga looked up at him with tears in her eyes at the thought of losing Loki and nodded his leave.

M'kay! Sounded like a lovely resting place to me, so I shall update again probably tomorrow because I have most of the day to myself tomorrow until rehearsal which isn't till nighttime so all will be well and the tale shall continue!

Please do comment and leave your thoughts, questions, concerns, and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism!

-~*~-The Phantom-~*~-