Guess who is one of my favorite characters in the MCU?
Loki! *confetti throwing*
Guess who gets to appear in today's chapter?
LOKI! *more confetti throwing*

But in all seriousness now. I put in lots of thought into Loki's psyche in the first movie, I put to use all my psychology classes and tried my very hardest to understand what made Loki, well, Loki.
I hope I didn't disappoint.

Asgard was in upheaval, the people knew something bad had happened, even though they weren't sure what had, the bright lights coming from the Bifrost were enough indicative. Around the people of Asgard ran the guards. They had all been ordered to be prepared in case something went wrong with the rescue mission. Not all of them knew how it had come to be, but apparently the crown prince, Thor, had somehow landed himself in Jotunheim along with his brother and needed to be rescued by Odin himself.

At the Bifrost Heimdall watched with sad, solemn eyes as Odin raged at his eldest. It was true that what Thor had done was serious and foolish, but he was still a child.

Loki watched on in horror as his father banished Thor to Midgard for a month to live as a human. What was his father thinking? Thor as a human could possibly get killed at that backwater planet! His brother was far too young to be thrust into a situation like that and come out unharmed – not that he would be able to do any better, he was even younger and smaller than Thor.

As Thor was thrown into the Bifrost Odin summoned Mjolnir and gave it the command to only let itself be wielded by those who were worthy. He was fairly certain that Thor would not have become worthy by the end of his month as a human on Midgard, he was simply too stubborn. Odin was still having trouble believing his eldest thought it was a good idea to go seek a challenge with a Jotun warrior of all things. And dragging his little brother Loki along on top of all! Loki was still a very small child and could barely defend himself properly against any sort of attack, Odin would have punished Thor much more heavily if his little expedition had caused harm to his little brother.

By the time Mjolnir flew after Thor towards Midgard Loki felt like his entire world had been thrown upside down – even if-. No. He wasn't going to think about it. He couldn't. Not right now at least. Swallowing down some of the dread he felt Loki drew himself up straight and went to seek out his mother, who no doubt would be crying about Thor's fate and would probably appreciate having Loki at her side.

It wasn't easy pretending to be fine in front of his mother, but he couldn't afford to look like anything else had happened like-. No. No, no, he wasn't going to think about that.

Except.

Except he couldn't stop thinking about what had happened when he had been at Jotunheim with Thor, while his brother had been distracted fighting monsters several times his size and Loki had barely had any idea how to defend himself against a race that was impervious to his daggers.

It troubled him. Day and night. It troubled him all the time. He couldn't eat without thinking about it, he couldn't walk without thinking about it, he couldn't look at Odin or Frigga without thinking about it. He couldn't even sleep because it was all he was able to think about.

After almost three days he finally managed to summon enough bravery and went down to Odin's Vault.

The truth was too much for him to bear.

His world crushed down on him and everything, everything, EVERYTHING changed.

And then his father – No! He was no longer his father, he never had been! He was Odin! Odin! – Odin was there and he was trying to placate him, but Loki had always been sharp with his words, he may be a child but he knew how to express himself fully. And express himself he did. He made sure that all his hurt, pain, agony stung Odin as sharply as it possibly could.

And then Odin fell and Loki was left gaping at him.

What had he done?!

He screamed for help as he felt around for any sign that Odin was still alive, that he hadn't died – that he hadn't killed him – that this wasn't his fault – please let this not be his fault – what would Frigga say? And why was she Frigga now? Why had she to be Frigga? He didn't want Frigga, he wanted his mother!

But Frigga wasn't his mother, was she?

His heart - what was left of it – was bleeding and broken without a way to ever restore it as he watched the crown, the same one he had envied Thor so much for because he was so sure he would be the one to receive it, come down and be placed on his head.

Later, that same day, he had gone to his chambers, laid the crown down with utmost care and went to lie on his bed. Then he cried himself hoarse throughout the night.

By the next day, barely any time having passed since he became the new king of Asgard, the Warriors Three and Sif were pestering him about letting Thor come back early and reprise his rightful place as the true king of Asgard.

On the one side, Loki could agree with them. Thor was the eldest and it was his rightful place to be the next king of Asgard.

On the other side, the mere idea of Thor, the same one who had nearly caused war to break out between Jotunheim and Asgard after hundreds of years of peace between the two races because he wanted to challenge one of their warriors to a fight was-. NO. NO. NO. NO.

It was such a bad idea Loki nearly broke his stoic façade he had been keeping up the last couple days to keep Frigga calm so she could look after Odin and not be too worried about himself.

So he told them as such.

They didn't say it out loud, but they could just as well had – they thought he was usurping the throne.

Well, they could think whatever the hell they wanted, he had never cared for them that much. They were all grownups and only ever seemed to like spending time with Thor, who was too blind and stupid to realize when people were getting tired of him and insulting him with clever words. Not that the Warriors Three knew anything about insulting with clever words, but Loki knew they would make fun of little Thor the princeling behind his back. Nothing too malicious, or he would have reported it to Frigga, but it still sat wrongly with Loki.

And then they did it.

The Warriors Three and that blasted Sif went against everything he had ordered them and common sense to go get Thor back from Midgard. Loki was angered enough that he went down to the Vault where he set the Destroyer on them. He longed to never see them again.

Jane seemed to be the only one being entertained by all the jabbering Dr. S – aka, Dr. Selvig – was doing about bridges and Einstein and some other dude. Darcy was just bored out of her freaking mind, like any other respectable 11 year old should be. Jane didn't count, and even though she was the same age as Darcy she was – um – special. Yeah. Jane was special. As in, crazy smart. She was not only following what Dr. S was jabbering on about, but contributing to the conversation in meaningful ways.

Darcy was just about to call quits on the pair of nerds and finally succumb to sleep while cuddling Kitty – her large kitten plushie she had brought with her all the way from England – when the sky became all colorful and they were suddenly driving towards some sort of tornado, storm, whatever thingy.

Jane was already gushing about how exciting all this was and Dr. S was talking about how happy Jane's dad was going to be when he heard about all the progress they'd done on his work while he was gone on his two week trip to heck knows where.

They were in the middle of the storm soon enough, and while Darcy was praying for her dear life in the back seat, they hit something. Jane was immediately screaming about a boy and Dr. S was jumping out of the car, flashlight in hand, frenetically searching for whatever – or whoever – they had hit. Darcy was quick to follow, her beloved tazer in hand in case it was somebody crazy.

She followed the noise to where Jane and Dr. S were inspecting a small form lying on the ground. Jane was shouting at Dr. S to check if he was alive and Dr. S seemed like he was doing just that. Upon closer inspection of the form Darcy could confirm that the small form was indeed a boy, roughly the same age as she and Jane, maybe a little older. Twelve? Maybe?

Then the boy snapped open his eyes and sprang up and began shouting at the sky. It was all pretty unnerving for Darcy and when the boy rounded upon Dr. S and looked like he was ready to attack him – and 12 or not, Darcy just had this sort of feeling that the boy could be capable of inflicting some great damage if left unchecked – so Darcy did the most reasonable thing she could think of. She tazed him. Jane was angry with her the whole trip to the hospital, looking at her with her glare-y eyes. Darcy had to bite her lips to stop herself from laughing at her friend's expression.

When they find out the next day that their little stranger had somehow managed to break out of the hospital's security Darcy wasn't really surprised at all, she was just a little upset that they'll now have to spend the whole day looking for him all around the town and its outskirts.

They find him after Dr. S somehow managed to drive into him again, right at the hospital's parking lot.

The boy – Thor, he tells them he's called – doesn't even seem fazed from being hit by the same car in less than 24 hours, instead he's all fine with it. He's so weird. He only became more and more weird with every passing moment. He talked weirdly, was too well mannered for any 12 year old Darcy had ever met – yet he lacked some crucial manners as he later demonstrated when they ate at the café – he talked of being from some weird place and-. Yeah, Darcy decided to tune him out after he began talking of going to some place out of town where something had fallen out of the sky. Jane was the only one that looked like she was buying all he was saying. Dr. S didn't look too impressed and had already taken them both aside to tell them in a gentle tone that Thor was cray cray and they shouldn't pay too much thought to what he was saying.

Dr. S left them alone with Thor for a while as he went to talk to the local authorities about the search that had begun to find Thor's parents – he didn't react well when Thor told them that his father had banished him from his home as a punishment – and it was no secret for both Jane and Darcy that when they find Thor's parents they were probably going to go to jail. Thor though, seems oblivious to the whole thing. Neither Jane nor Darcy felt up to it to shatter his illusions.

When Dr. S came back he took them both aside and told them that he'd talked with the police and they'd allow him to take care of Thor until a social worker could find his or her way to the town. From what Darcy understood this could take up to a week.

So they took Thor to their home, even as he continued to insist on going to the site where the satellite fell. Dr. S eventually got tired of this and agreed to taking him there the next day if all went well. But when they arrive at their home they find government people all over the place and taking away all Dr. S and Jane's dad's research. Jane was the one who got the angriest out of all of them, shouting stuff about how her dad worked for the government as well, but nobody minded her and in the end they took away everything. Dr. S and Jane were pretty sullen afterwards as they had dinner and sulked around before showing Thor a place where he could sleep and going off to bed themselves.

The next day they tried to distract Thor for as long as they could by introducing him to all the kinds of board games they had – apparently he had never even so much as heard of all of them – and they were doing fine until after lunch when he demanded they let him out of the house so he could go find a horse and go himself. Dr. S just gave a longsuffering sigh and told Thor that they would take him. Jane was secretly all for it, cause she was becoming stir crazy after being left without an action to take after the government goons took away her dad's stuff. Darcy was just happy they all got something to do that would make them stop sulking.

The ride there was long, it was all dark by the time they got there and found the government all over the place. Jane was immediately hissing curses at them that she shouldn't know. Dr. S decided then that it was the proper place to scold Jane for her language and teach her about good values. Nobody noticed when Thor snuck away to infiltrate the government tent base, but Darcy was the first one to notice his absence.

Dr. S was not impressed by Thor at all. He was still fuming as he went back to their truck and got all the paperwork the police gave him to show that he was Thor's temporary guardian and then proceeded to stomp his way down to the tent base.

When he came back with a weepy Thor in one of his arms he seemed to have forgiven Thor whatever pains he might have caused him. As they drove home Darcy overheard Dr. S telling Jane in hushed tones that apparently Thor had thought that if he could get to whatever was at the tent base he would be able to lift his banishment and get back to his home. It really broke all of their hearts.

Thor seemed to slowly come to accept that maybe his parents wouldn't be coming back for him, though he also seemed to believe that they – or more specifically, his father – would be letting him come back to his home in a month. Dr. S didn't seem too impressed by this idea either.

Thor ended up staying with them about a whole week. In this time they would try to teach him about the basic of things, like almost anything electrical. It was almost comic how he didn't seem to know about anything. Dr. S called it tragic. Thor would also tell them about all his 'adventures' on Asgard and all other realms and often also talk about his little brother who he said was just under Jane's size. Darcy figured this meant he was about 10 years old or so.

Then, one day, as Thor was finally making his first toast ever without making a mess, four strange people came knocking on their glass door.

Darcy was still having problems understanding what was happening when they were suddenly being attacked by some giant robot. The town was in disarray as it evacuated and Dr. S had tried to usher them away, but Jane had set her foot down that she was going to stay since Thor was adamant he was also going to stay.

Thor's weird friends then began fighting the robot and Darcy experienced a new type of fear as she watched the robot tear through them as if they weren't the best warriors of Asgard – and she couldn't really deny it, cause she saw how they attacked that thing, they truly were as awesome as Thor had made them out to be.

And then it was only Darcy, Jane, Dr. S and Thor left over. He shouted at them to take cover and, armed with only a kitchen knife, he charged at the thing. Jane was screaming and Darcy was too stunned to do anything more than gape as the robot swatted Thor away as if he was nothing.

Then it began advancing towards them.

Thor began twitched, began moving and tried to get up, but couldn't, his body too battered to give more fight. So he began screaming, shouting at the thing to leave them alone, to take him instead. His desperate shouting broke Darcy's heart right then and there. There were tears running down the boy's face, mixing with blood as he pleaded for their lives.

Then, as Darcy was sure everything was over, the brightest flash of light she had ever seen came from the sky and there was thunder and lighting and then there was Thor, standing and holding a hammer. Lighting was falling all over the place and with one jump and strike the robot was destroyed.

It was all over so quickly that Darcy had trouble believing what she had seen, but there was Thor, clad in bright armor. Gone was the blood and tears that had been all over his face, gone were his tattered clothes that had broken when he fell under the robot's hand, gone was Thor, their normal, but slightly weird friend. This was Thor from Asgard, the mythical ruler of thunder and lightning.

The warrior friends of Thor soon regained consciousness and pleaded with him to go back to Asgard where he was dearly needed. Thor looked at them, his eyes sad. Darcy could see in his eyes that he didn't want to leave them. There was some of that desperation that he had shown previously when pleading for their lives still present in them. But then he glanced back at his warrior friends and Darcy saw his jaw harden.

He pleaded for them to forgive him and told them he'd be back as soon as he could. They followed him to the outskirts of the town where he wanted to take off and the leftover of the government goons that had tried to stop the robot were gathered. Their leader tried to stop Thor but his warrior friends would have none of it and Thor was adamant he had to go back to his home – a bit like E.T. when Darcy thought about it later. And then, in another bright flash of light, Thor and his warrior friends were gone – just like in E. T.

It was all over. Everything Loki had been working for was falling down around him. The Warriors Three and Sif were on their way back to Asgard with Thor. They would see it all burn under their feet, Loki was sure of it. It was the end of the entire kingdom as it was known.

And it was all those idiot's fault.

As Loki stalked the halls of the palace he became increasingly agitated, he could barely fathom the idea of Thor taking over the throne. His mind became plagued with all that would go wrong if his brother was to become king. It all became just too much for him as he finally decided that he was to be the one to set an end to all of it before it even began.

The Warriors Three and Sif had barely had the opportunity to exit the Bifrost along with Thor before Loki was there and striking them down. Cursed Heimdall immediately jumped to their aid and stopped Loki before he could do any real form of damage. Thor was immediately upon him and asking for an explanation of what was happening.

At first Loki was still too mad with rage so he didn't hear him, but then as Thor bellowed how he didn't understand – and weren't they brothers? – did it all dawn on Loki. He saw his reflexion on the polished floors of the Bifrost and knew that this wasn't the fault of the Warriors Three, or Sif, or even Thor.

This was all Jotunheim's fault. So they would be the ones to pay.

With one mighty swat from Grungir he had Heimdall out of his way and he had the controls of the Bifrost at his disposal. He made quick work of his plan and almost immediately he had the whole force of the Bifrost hitting Jotunheim with no way whatsoever to stop it.

He was still laughing brokenly with joy at what he'd done when Thor wrenched him out of the Bifrost and tried to force him to explain what in the name of everything whatsoever holy and precious had caused his madness.

Loki was still half in hysterics as he told Thor that he wasn't actually his brother.

The expression of total sorrow and heartbreak on Thor's face almost gave Loki pause, but then that same expression morphed into one of stubborn decisiveness that Loki knew so well. Thor stood up and began raising his hammer, ready to smash whatever was underneath it. Loki closed his eyes tightly, believing Thor was about to strike him down now that he knew they weren't actually brothers, but then, lo and behold, he was wrong. How often can one be wrong in such a short lifespan?

Thor hadn't raised his hammer to strike Loki down, he'd raised it to break the bridge to the Bifrost. Loki, madness still having a hold on him, tried to stop Thor, using his human friends as excuses. If anything it only hardened Thor's resolve.

When the Bifrost fell Loki saw in it not only his plans, but all his life falling down into the abyss. He didn't put up any protest when he felt himself falling along with the Bifrost, so he was surprised when he looked up and saw Thor holding onto him and Odin of all people holding Thor.

Seeing Odin's face of disappointment was too much for Loki. He tried to tell his father that he could have done it, but then Odin broke even that illusion.

It was all too much, so he let go.

*sniffs* Damn, Loki always makes my heart ache :(