A/N: This was written for 'Seven Days of Magic and Science,' a Lokane Week event held at the tumblr fanfic archive, magic-n-science. The prompt was 'Letting Go.'

Again, this is an AU of The Dark World.

She's out on the balcony with Thor. The majesty of Asgard is set before her unworthy eyes, proud and poised as the most powerful realm of all the nine. It takes her breath away. She can manage nothing beyond the smallest exclamation, wrapped up in one of Frigga's silken cloaks that swallows her up. Thor comes up from behind to hold her, the tiny mortal like a doll in his arms. Loki wouldn't watch them, but sitting in a cell for a year hasn't provided much distraction on its own. He's read all his books and finished tonight's dinner, and Jane Foster's arrival is the most interesting thing to happen in Asgard since Thor's failure of a coronation, and he does know how pitiful that is, thank you.

He sees her like this many times after their victory over the Dark Elves. She stays in Asgard for Thor, for as long as it takes for Odin to come around and give them his blessing. Thor is confident that day is upon them, Jane Foster is not so sure. Loki doesn't have to ask to know this, and he doesn't. She makes it clear she wants him halfway around the world at all times. Since that's not an option, she settles for opposite ends of the palace. Invisible lines are drawn. Her side is the west end with the observatory and Thor's chambers. His is the east with the library. If she wants to venture to his side, she doesn't. Now that he is free of that cell, Loki spends all his time there, and however large the palace library is, he knows every inch of it. He would find her in an instant if she was here.

Then one day, she is. He finds her in the astronomy section, bewilderedly running her finger through titles from her own home world like she thought his would be ignorant of them. She never sees him, but she feels his presence. The fine hairs on her neck stand on end and she leaves in a hurry, books a jumble in her arms. Loki is almost sad to see her go.

Time passes slowly on Asgard, to the point that counting the days is almost meaningless. It is not so for Jane Foster, and she's feeling it a little more each day. Months have gone by since Thor returned with her, just a few shy of a year. All that time attending banquets and debating with scholars and garnering support among the nobility and common folk, and still it's a feat for Odin to address her by name. Loki would rather not notice how much his former father's aloofness chips away at her. What confidence she had ebbs away slowly, under a crippling isolation forced upon her. Odin is the gatekeeper who holds the key to Valhalla just out of Jane Foster's reach and laughs as she jumps with all her might to reach it, and always falls short. Loki sees it, and it would really be nice if he didn't.

It's not so easy to avoid it, any more than it is to avoid her. She's becoming bolder now, going into the library without fear and spending hours buried in books and parchment, just like he did when he was a boy. She no longer cares about him watching her. He does it openly one day, sits at the other end of her table, and she never bats an eyelash. If it truly was bravery that spurred her on, and not certainty that she was going to be shipped back to Midgard and a need to consume as much knowledge as possible before that happened, even that would have been enough.

But now his eyes are open. He sees how disdainfully those who don't accept her look upon her. Sometimes, one hateful stare can undo a thousand loving ones. He sees Thor try to make it right; he tells her someday they will see, but his words are no longer enough (have they even been?). More than anything, he sees the wear in Jane's eyes, the need for an end to it all. Whatever she once felt for Thor is dead and buried in a sea of empty promises. The only love that keeps her here now is a love for science and learning, and if Odin was so unwilling to keep her for Thor, she hasn't a prayer now.

And Loki should not care about any of this. He should watch her descent, and he should laugh and sneer at her. After a time, he should tire of her, and he should let her go back to that hovel of a world where she belongs, to be forgotten, to grow old and die in a blink of his eye. That is simply how it should be.

Tomorrow, Odin will inform Jane that it is time for her to go- he told Frigga as much while Loki's double listened outside the door. Tonight, Loki thinks about all the wonders he'll show her when he uses the momentum to make his daring escape and take her as his hostage. Meanwhile, Jane is draped over him with the sheets bunched up at her back, snoring softly.

He never has done the things he should.