Andrea

(AKA What Happens When Mythology, Marvel, and my Mind Collide)

C. J. Corrigan

Chapter One: The Punishment

"Bring the accused forward," a wrinkly old Diar demanded. Nodding in obedience the guards opened the door and the bound, gagged and broken former prince of Agar was brought in to face his judgment.

"Loki Laufeyson," Thor began with a heavy heart as his adopted brother was freed from his muffle, but not of the manacles around his wrists, "you allied with the Chitauri in order to enslave the human race and take rule over Earth. Doing so you endangered and ended countless lives. Do you have anything… at all… to say?"

"I did nothing wrong," Loki said simply.

"You betrayed Asgard," Thor reminded him.

"You betrayed me. Did you not just testify against me?" he challenged with venom in his every word.

"Loki," a Diar cut in, "although you may not consider Asgard your home now, taking the life of anyone, even a human, is an unforgiveable crime." This judge, Agni, had been a kind old man who had often looked after Loki and his brother in their youth when their mother and father were too busy. He could remember when Odin brought home the little and at the time innocent baby from Jontunheim, and it made him miserable to see the boy he'd once thought of as a son, the man who now stood in chains before him ruined.

"And you deserve a punishment fitting for such a crime," another judge added. This judge was not as sympathetic. "The only penalty appropriate is death."

"No," Thor said quietly. "There's a human proverb… How did it go? An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. If we kill him, how are we any better than the one we chastise?"

"Thor, this is no time to reminisce over your attachment on Earth," Theoric reprimanded. Odin had made him a Diar in apology for Loki's trickery years ago when he married Theoric's betrothed.

"Perhaps he's right," Agni supported Thor's advice. "We shouldn't kill him."

"Are you getting soft?" Theoric fumed. "And you as well, Thor. Your days with the humans have made you spineless."

"You will respect me as your ruler, Theoric," Thor commanded calmly. "You owed my father everything you have. In his absence, your debt is now to me."

"That may be true, but it doesn't change the fact that I owe him," he pointed at Loki, "nothing."

"Even so," the eldest and wisest Diar, Koli, broke in, "homicide on this level deserves something worse than death. It would be different if he were paying for the life on one, but that's not the case. He's paying for the lives of hundreds, thousands even. If we kill him, we give him exactly what he wants. He doesn't have anything to worry about and he doesn't learn anything, now does he?"

"What are you suggesting?" another judge murmured.

"He will learn as his brother learned," Koli said. "He will live among those he wished to enslave and will understand how wrong he was to endanger them. He will be abandoned on Earth, stripped of his powers. If he ever truly learns his lesson, he can return to Asgard on parole, in the custody of someone who will look after him and keep him in line."

"That is too light a penance," Theoric hissed. "Kill him."

"You do not have to penalize him for taking your wife. That is not in question here," Agni rebuked.

"So it's decided," Thor ruled, a secret bolt of happiness shooting to his chest. "He will be forced to live as a human." Living being the operative word, he thought.

"NO!" Loki shouted, fighting against the gaurds that held him back. "No, please!"

"Take him away," Koli ordered.

"Please, anything but―"

The door was slammed shut and the room was silent again until Koli stood and beckoned to a young lady dressed in green who had been sitting in the front row. "Young lady, I'd like you to follow him in a few days to make sure he doesn't get into too much trouble and to continue to make his punishment a little more severe. It will be your chance to repay him for all the damage he's done to you. You can do this in anyway you see fit as long as he continues to live."

"Will my powers be taken away as well, then?" the woman asked.

"No, of course not. That would take all the fun out of it."