"Remember, Loki has many tricks. Don't believe much of what you see in his cell. He might attempt to hide himself from you by taking different forms," Frigga said quickly as she led Maggie along the darker and smaller passageways than those above.

"He will try to get at you where it hurts to get a reaction out of you. Don't let him. Keep your composure. Eventually he will lighten up."

Maggie tried to keep mental notes, grabbing onto the straps of her backpack tightly.

"More than anything, though, just be yourself. Loki has many sides to him, but he is incredibly perceptive of others. It will only make him more angry."

Frigga paused at the top of the stairs, looking down at the guards to the prison. "No matter what, don't tell him I sent you. Are you ready?"

"Yeah, I think so," Maggie nodded, attempting a smile.

Frigga put a hand on Maggie's shoulder, trying to reassure her. "Thank you," she whispered, before sweeping down the stairs.

The guards immediately stood at attention, their heels clicking together as the Queen came closer.

"Guards, you are to let this woman pass. She has the permission of this kingdom to speak with Loki."

The two guards glanced at each other. "The King has ordered nobody to speak with the prisoner…" one of the guards began, but Frigga cut him off.

"You would disobey your queen?"

"No, of course not…" the other stammered.

"Then let her pass."

The guards looked between each other and Frigga for another moment before finally stepping aside and opening the heavy doors. Frigga gave her one last nod before Maggie entered and the doors closed behind her.

"Who are you?"

He was taller in person than she expected. Even inside a white cell, his presence was intimidating.

"I'm, uh, I'm Maggie. I work for the New York Post. I was wondering if I could interview you."

"How did you get here?"

"Oh, the guard let me in."

"No, I mean how did you get here? In Asgard?" He glared at her with cold eyes.

"It's…kind of a long story. I've lost my tape recorder, so I'm going to have to take notes. Do you mind if I pull up a chair?" She grabbed a wooden chair from along the wall before he could answer and sat in it, pulling out her notebook and pen from her backpack. She crossed her legs and took a deep breath before meeting his gaze again. To her surprise, he was smiling.

"Did I do something funny?" she asked, trying to keep her composure.

"All you mortals are the same, trying to make yourselves higher than you are." Loki rolled his eyes and walked away from the front of his cell, sitting down in a chair towards the back, his legs draping over the arm rest.

"Is that why you tried to take over our planet?"

"You would not understand the complexities of reasons."

"Try me." He was slowly getting on her nerves, looking down at her like she was a pebble in his shoe, merely an annoyance that would be gone soon enough.

Loki was quiet for a moment, studying her, the smirk never leaving his face. "Why don't you tell me the reasons you think I invaded Earth, and I'll tell you if you're right or wrong."

He was playing games with her, but she didn't mind playing if it kept him talking. "I think it was out of jealousy."

"Jealousy? Really? Seems like such a petty reason to take over a planet." His mouth twitched as if he was trying to hold back a laugh.

"That's what I thought, too. But…I don't really have anything else to go on. Nobody knows much about you or your world except that Thor has a soft spot for Earth…well, mostly he has a soft spot for Jane…but anyways, you are resentful of him so you decided to try to take away the thing he treasured most." She shrugged. "You obviously have a very low opinion of humans, so there is no other reason you would want to rule my planet. Jealousy is the only thing that makes sense to me."

"You have no idea what you are talking about," Loki retorted, but he wasn't looking at her anymore. His gaze fell on his hands which were folded in his lap.

"So…enlighten me."

His smile returned, a crooked sort of smile that would have been endearing had it not meant he was mocking her. "You think you can possibly understand the mind of a god?"

"You are not a god," she replied a little too quickly, trying to convince herself as much as anything.

"I am a god!" His voice boomed in the tiny cell, his back rigid as he sat up in the chair, his sudden anger catching her off guard. She gripped the pen harder to keep her hands from shaking.

Just as quickly as it had appeared, the anger disappeared underneath layers of false faces. Loki relaxed again, his smile returning. "Perhaps you should move on to the next question."

She hadn't gotten what she wanted, but she coughed nervously and decided to move on anyway. "How would you describe your relationship with Thor?"

"Oh, boring. Next question."

"What is life like here in Asgard?"

"Wouldn't know. Next question."

"Do you regret any of your actions?"

"Nope. Next question."

"Why not?"

"Because there is nothing to regret. Next question."

Maggie sighed heavily. She tried to stay calm as Frigga had instructed, but this was going nowhere and she was getting nothing. "Are you doing this on purpose or is this just how you are?"

Loki laughed, his head tilting backward. "Wouldn't you like to know."

Maggie rolled her eyes, her lips pressed together angrily. "Ok, could you please tell me how I should describe your cell then? A 12 foot by 12 foot box where you will spend the rest of your long and miserable life? A bare place with only a bed, a chair, a few books, and the shadow of a 'god' who could have been great but chose evil instead? Or perhaps I should just go with the greatness of Asgard and its people and how you chose to betray them all?"

Loki's smile was still on his face, but it was hardened, frozen in place as he glared at her. "So you think you know something about me? Well, let me tell you what I have figured out about you. I know a mortal has never traveled to Asgard, so the very fact that you are here means that there is something very wrong. Something even Odin is scared of and can't control. Am I right?"

Maggie nodded her head, impressed by his insight.

"So what has happened on Thor's precious Earth to bring you here?"

"Jane was searching for Thor. We got sucked into some sort of portal and we were both infected by…something. Thor called it Aether. He said it is a very powerful substance that was supposed to be destroyed 5000 years ago."

"Ah, I've heard these stories. The Aether and Malekith and the dark elves. So that power is flowing within you? What I would give to have that…" His voice was melodic as he stood up and came closer to the edge, staring down at her, a renewed interest on his face. "But I assume it is killing your mortal body, literally taking away your life force. I'm sure Thor is beside himself trying to find a way to save his precious Jane."

"Yes, of course."

"Is anyone trying to save you?"

Maggie furrowed her brows, confused. "By saving Jane, I will be saved as well."

"Yes, but does anyone really care if you die? Or is all the talk about Jane?" His eyes studied her as the smirk as his face grew wider. He was getting to her, and he could tell, but she refused to look away.

"Ah, that's what I thought. That's why you are down here in the dungeons. You have been brought to a brand new world, greater than all your imaginations, and you are with a prisoner on the pretense of an 'interview'. It's only because you know no one will be searching for you. Nobody cares what happens to you. Just like nobody cares what happens to me."

"Should they care?" Maggie asked as Loki sat back in his chair.

"Hmm?"

"Should anyone care what happens to you?"

He didn't answer for a moment, and she thought just for one second that she might get an honest response, but his eyes clouded over again. "No."

"So why do you…"

"We are done here," he interrupted, his hand waving her away.

"I think I have the benefit of declaring when this interview is finished."

"We're done!"

Maggie was so angry…she couldn't remember a time when she was this furious. She wanted to say something back, let him know that it was the concern of his own mother who he cared nothing about that had sent her here, but she had promised Frigga, so instead she stood up and began shoving the notebook in her backpack. It took several attempts, the white hot anger making it hard to concentrate. She could feel Loki's eyes on her back, watching her with amusement, but she wouldn't give him the benefit of letting him see her so upset.

A loud boom caught her attention. She looked down the hall to one of the other cells. There was something happening, but she couldn't tell what. She strained her eyes and took a few steps toward the commotion.

Several men were together in one cell, but most of them were trying to get out. One was in the middle, a mask over his face, and he was shaking. Smoke seemed to rise off his body, then suddenly, the room exploded in a ball of fire.

Maggie ducked before realizing the walls of the cell, although clear, were sturdy. Asgardian guards had entered, their spears raised at the monster now standing before them in the cell. He was huge, a mammoth of a being, and he roared at them, holding another prisoner against the wall before bursting through it with a huge claw.

"I think you'd better run."

She looked over her shoulder, surprised to see Loki standing at the corner of his cell, watching the scene with just as much curiosity and anticipation. But he was right, she should run.

Maggie turned and had made it halfway up the stairs before she remembered her backpack. Her backpack holding all of her precious notebooks. She couldn't leave it. It was still sitting on the chair in front of Loki's cell. She looked down into the dungeon nervously, hearing the screams and shouts getting louder. More Asgardian soldiers were pouring into the dungeon, trying to stop the attack. She had to take the risk.

"What are you doing?!" Loki hissed when he saw her. She skidded to a stop in front of him, grabbing one of the straps. She turned to run again, but a strong hand stopped her, gripping her throat.

"Well, look at this pretty little lady." The man was large, a brown beard covering most of his face, and a wild look in his eyes. He was one of the other prisoners that the monster was going from cell to cell to free.

He lifted Maggie easily, his hand squeezing down on her precious airways. Her feet dangled helplessly above the ground, and she wondered if this was how she was going to die, looking down at an ugly man, slowly losing oxygen.

"What the…" the man's grip on her suddenly loosened, just enough for her to gasp for valuable air, and brought her closer to his face, looking at her quizzically. Maggie looked over and could see Loki with his hand outstretched. She didn't know what he was doing, but Frigga had warned that he was a man of trickery. Perhaps it was a spell. It gave her the moment she needed, and she swiftly kicked the man in the groin. He dropped her as he doubled over, and Maggie ran, not turning around again.

Her red Skechers slapped on the marble floors. There was the sound of an attack in all corners of the castle. Suddenly the entire structure shook with an impact, and Maggie leaned against a wall in the stairwell, her breathing too rapid and shallow to get any real oxygen to her lungs. Her panic was rising and she was moments away from a full anxiety attack, so she took a few deep breaths before taking off running again.

She must find Jane, but as Maggie reached the upper levels, she realized this would be harder than she had anticipated. A black spaceship with a circular head and narrow bottom lay in the middle of the throne room. Strange beings poured out of it with white faces and pointed ears. There were Asgardian soldiers trying to protect their kingdom, but they fell fast, either being shot or swept into a black hole created by some device.

Maggie hid behind a pillar, shocked by the destruction in the room she had been in no more than an hour ago. She couldn't help but wonder if this was her fault.

The thought of Jane pushed the others away, and she felt with stronger conviction that she must find her. Staying along the wall, she ran down another hallway and finally caught a glimpse of her friend in a bedroom, wearing a brown dress and looking scared. Maggie ran up to the door, but pressed herself along the wall as she saw Jane was not alone. Frigga was there, being held down by the monstrous beast that had broken out of the prison, and another creature with a white face marred by a deep scar, white hair braided down his back, and black armor that looked old. He was terrifying just to look at, and Maggie could only think of one thing…the story of Malekith and the Dark Elves that Thor had told her. They had survived, and they were here to reclaim the Aether.

He reached out to Jane before she disappeared, and they all realized it was just an illusion.

"Witch!" Malekith yelled at Frigga, glaring at her. "Where is the Aether?"

"I will never tell you," the Queen responded.

"I believe you," Malekith said just before the beast thrust his sword into her.

"No!" Maggie cried out as Frigga's eyes closed, a stream of blood staining her beautiful blue dress.

Malekith looked over at Maggie and pointed at her. "Get her! She has some of the Aether!"

Maggie's heart nearly stopped as she froze, the beast taking lumbering steps towards her. Suddenly there a bolt of electricity that hit Malekith's face. He fell backwards, burned badly. Thor ran into the room, throwing his hammer. The beast picked up the injured Malekith, deflecting the blow just in time. Thor threw it again, but the beast jumped over the ledge, and the two disappeared onto a ship.

It was only then that Jane, the real Jane, came out from her hiding place just behind a wall not another ten feet from where Malekith had been. Frigga had died defending her, trying to keep the Aether in her and Maggie out of evil's hands. Odin entered and laid on the ground next to his wife's lifeless body, wrapping his arms around her helplessly, his sobs the only sound in the room.