Asgard had moved on. It had been a year since the second born had fallen to the Bifrost. The funeral had been quick and tense, with whispers reaching everyone's ears, whispers of grief and madness. Now, the whispers were malicious. False Queen. Mad Queen. Monster from Jotunheim. Jotun bastard. Frost Giant. Traitor. Liesmith. Laufeydaughter. The Bifrost was still damaged from her fight with the Odinson. He was the only one who still mourned his lost sister. Every day he would pass her rooms, and memories flooded of a dark haired, green-eyed girl with a penchant for magic and a mouth ready to sneer, and a body ready to dance and a life ready to shine. A life that had been marred by tragedy, trickery, deception, and death. The Odinson mourned still, although there were days when he forgot the lost princess, when the Silvertongue slipped his mind. The Queen still let flowers fall everyday into the cavernous hole that was the Bifrost, but there were fewer each day. As for the Allfather, he had all but forgotten the runt he had rescued from Jotunheim, his traitorous adopted daughter. But, true to her vibrant memory, she would not remain forgotten for long.
/\/\/\
"Your Majesties!" The messenger stumbled into the throne room, gasping as he stared up at the Allfather, the Queen, and the Crown Prince, as well as the Mighty Four.
"Yes?" Odin demanded crossly. "What is it?"
"My lord, I have seen Midgard." Thor stood up at the name of the realm that was under his protection.
"What of it?" He growled. The Lady Sif laid a hand on his arm to still him.
"There has been destruction," the messenger said.
"The Chitauri?" Thor demanded, sharing a glance with his companions and parents. Worry etched on the faces of the Aesir as they thought of the enemies that had been looming for some time.
"Of a nature," the messenger said evasively. Despite his haste, he was hesitant to reveal his truth to his now captive audience.
"Pray continue," Queen Frigga said kindly.
"It is an ally of the Chitauri," he explained. "One we did not know they had."
"Who?" Odin asked, gripping his spear. The messenger took a deep breath.
"She lives, your Excellencies." Eyes widened as breaths left bodies, shock settling on the beautiful features. "She is alive, and she is well."
/\/\/\
"IF YOU LIE-" Thor began with a menacing bellow, before Fandral held him back from the shrinking messenger.
"Is there a way we can have proof sir?" Hogun asked, staring evenly at the messenger. He nodded mutely, and a green glow came from his hands, to form a small screen on which anything in all of the Nine Realms could be observed.
"I would like to apologize for what I am about to show you," he said ominously as a dilapidated, crumbling fortress came into view.
"What is this?" Volstagg gasped.
"A Midgardian camp," the messenger explained. "Destroyed when the princess came to Midgard." The images switched to finally show Loki, Laufeydaughter, Odindaughter, whatever she now considered herself. Thor drew in a breath at the sight of her. The last he had seen her, she had been a crimson gown, dangling off of the Allfather's spear, a tear running down her face before she let herself fall, intending to die. Now she was a in a cut and tailored Midgardian suit, smacking two humans with a cane before grabbing an elder and slamming him down on a table. She took out a carved instrument and plunged it into his eye, looking up with a vicious pleasure as the poor man screamed and writhed.
"No…" The word escaped Thor's mouth unbidden. This woman, this torturer could not be his sister, the little sister he had loved and lost.
"What is this?" Sif gasped, for she too had known Loki well, and she could not reconcile the cruel woman taking out an innocent man's eye with the bright girl who had once been her friend. Fandral and Volstagg were torn between horror and sickness, watching a deteriorated shell of Loki, a monster in the princess's skin. Hogun stared at the royal family, at Frigga's tearful eyes and Odin's blank expression and Thor's mouth gaping in horror.
"Is this not… simpler?" Loki asked the German crowd kneeling at her feet. She stalked forward like a preying animal, smirking as only a villain could. "Is this not your natural state? It is the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power. You were made to be ruled. And in the end you will always kneel."
"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Thor raged at the messenger, who scampered away in fear. "OUT! OUT NOW!" The poor man scuttled away, leaving the Crown Prince breathing heavily. Thor didn't know where his rage came from, or to whom he should direct it to. To his father, for having lied to Loki about her heritage and abandoning her? At his sister herself, for becoming this monster, this cruel woman who clearly cared nothing for anyone except herself? At the Chitauri, for influencing her in these sadistic, genocidal decisions? At himself, for leaving her, for not understanding, for not being the big brother he could have been, for not protecting and shielding her? At all of them, for all the parts they played in turning Loki into what she was now?
"There is still hope for her Thor," Frigga said kindly.
"But first, bring the Jotun back." All head turned to Odin, who was staring impassively ahead of him.
"What?" Fandral spoke up at that, aghast. Although it had become common knowledge the nature of Loki's true heritage, as well as the crimes she had committed against Asgard and the murder of her true father, never had Odin ever acquiesced that she was anything other than his daughter.
"As there is a strong likelihood that the Loki we all knew is gone, it is better to disassociate yourself from her," the Allfather explained. "The woman my son brings back may not be the girl who fell from the Bifrost." The Mighty Four nodded. Thor stood, and prepared to leave for Heimdall when Frigga caught her arm.
"Bring her back Thor." The prince nodded and exited, unaware that the Lady Sif was swift on his heels.
"Heimdall will summon energy to put you on Midgard?" Sif asked. Thor stopped, his back rigid.
"Yes," he said simply. "And Sif?"
"Yes?"
"Loki did not fall. She jumped." And with that, the prince went to retrieve his wayward sister.