AN: Another chapter ready to be shared - at least as ready as I am able to make it myself, which brings me to an inquiry: I really feel like I could use a beta-reader.. any volunteers? Feel free to send me a PM if you want! ;)

Thanks to: SailorVeegan, TwilightTwihardFanFictioner, portlandia21 and H. Lokidottir, who reviewed on the last chapter; your comments makes my day(s)! ...and also thanks to those who added to Fav/Alert; that obviously means LOADS to me as well! =)

Anyway, a warning; I KNOW some of you (hopefully not all) will be disappointed with the reason for Sigyn's memory loss, but do not fret; I could be going somewhere with this. =P ...and now, onto the story (and a lot more Loki than previously):

~ Chapter Six ~

Rationalising and Remembrance

Early the next morning Loki was in his chambers, sitting at his desk, hands folded neatly beneath his chin. He hadn't been able to fall asleep the night before – in fact he had barely slept since Sigyn had arrived in Asgard.

Intelligent as he was, the Prince rarely found himself to be confused, but since Sigyn's arrival the feeling of confusion had been almost constantly present in his mind. It made no sense; why did she not remember him?... or Asgard for that matter? She had spend most of her childhood in the Realm, surely one did not just forget such a thing. But did that mean she was lying, then? No.. impossible, he thought to himself; he had seen the genuine confusion on her face, when he had approached her the night of her arrival. And anyway, Sigyn had always been a very poor liar.

The Prince leaned forward a bit and reached out his left hand to pick up a small flower standing alone in a tiny crystal vase at the back of his desk. He twirled it between his thumb and index-finger, and as he did so the thin layer of dust, which had rested on the pedals, fell onto the desk; it had been a very long while since he had last picked up the flower from it's resting place.

As he took in the tremble of the pedals, caused from his twisting of it between his fingers, he could feel his frustration grow; for centuries this flower – this little token of sentiment – had rested on his desk, along with the hope of Sigyn's eventual return to Asgard, and over the years that hope had gotten smaller and smaller, until the point where it had almost completely vanished, and then finally she turns up; the girl – the woman – he had treasured above everyone else, only to have no recollection of having ever known him.

Suddenly the Prince let out a growl as he crushed the flower in his hand and threw it to the floor and put his face in his palms, elbows resting on the desk in front of him. It felt as if his blood was boiling within him from the frustration; why did it matter so much? He had been nothing more than a young man, a child, when he had known her. It was normal to outgrow things one had been fond of during childhood, so why had he not been able to outgrow the idea of her?

Loki shook his head at his own thoughts; he knew very well why. She had been the one friend he had had to himself, without having to share with his older brother. And where everybody else found his magic to be nothing but a nuisance, she had treasured it.

Out of nowhere there was a knock on Loki's door, and without having told the person outside to enter, he heard the door open and looked up only to see the face of his mother peaking inside. When the Queen saw her son sitting at his desk she gave him a kind smile, and entered the chamber.

"Good morning, Mother." The Prince said and smiled at her, "what brings you here so early?"

The Queen walked over to her son and put a hand on his top of his head – a gesture she had always used on her sons – before she gently started stroking his hair, and looked down at him, worry dominating her features; "what is troubling you, dear?" she asked in a soft voice.

Loki was slightly taken aback by her question, "I don't know what you mean, Mother," he answered in a very convincing voice, "nothing is troubling me."

The Queen sighed and looked at him, nothing but kindness showing on her face, "Loki, I am your mother.." she said, "I am perfectly capable of seeing when you're hurting. Please tell me what it is; I may be able to help you."

The Prince looked up at his mother and regarded her for a moment; "if only you could, Mother.." he said before his gaze shifted to the floor, and fell on the flower he had thrown down not long ago – a feeling of remorse spread within him, as he looked at the now crumbled flower.

"Would this have anything to do with Princess Sigyn?" The Queen asked.

Loki looked up at her, not able to hide the surprise he felt at her bold question. "H-how did you -" he didn't get to finish his question, before she replied:

"Like I said; I am your mother.. I know when you're hurting." She paused for a moment before continuing; "I am not blind, my dear. I have seen how you look at her. I have never seen you look at anyone like that before.."

Now the Prince didn't know what feeling to display; he felt ashamed for trying to hide the truth, embarrassed because his mother had apparently noticed how he looked at Sigyn different than anyone else, but at the same time the sadness he felt grew stronger, and with it the anger of her lacking memories. "She does not remember me." He stated in an almost inaudible voice.

"You knew her when she lived in Asgard?" The Queen asked.

"I did, yes." He replied simply, his voice still very quiet. A realisation hit him almost as soon as he answered and he looked up at his mother in surprise; "you knew she was from Asgard?"

"Yes, her mother was one of my dearest friends when they lived in Asgard.. and we have stayed in contact ever since they went to Vanaheim." The Queen told him.

"I take it you knew of her lacking memories of Asgard, then?" He asked, even though he already knew the answer.

The Queen said nothing, but nodded at her son.

"Why does she not remember?" Loki asked, a hint of desperation in his voice.

"I do not know the specifics of it all, but I was told that upon arriving in Vanaheim, Princess Sigyn had a troubled mind; she would not eat or talk to anyone, she practically sealed herself in her chambers and her mother started to fear for her health as the condition only worsened and finally the King and Queen decided to have one of the Realm's most powerful magicians help them." The Queen took in her son's thoughtful expression before continuing; "the magician was to relieve Princess Sigyn of what ever was troubling her mind, but for some reason, whether it be by mistake or not, he stripped her of all memories of Asgard; her childhood, her father... you."

As his mother stopped talking, Loki shifted his gaze from her face to let his eyes rest on the floor again. "But.. why did they not make this magician reverse the spell once they realised what had happened?" He wondered aloud.

"They tried, but he told them it was not possible." She answered, "I believe they even tried to have other magicians and healers try to change her mind back to how it was, but it could not be done."

"So she will never remember..." Loki stated, his voice filled with disappointment and sorrow.

The Queen crouched down before her son and took his hands – it was a rare sight, even for her, to see him without any kind of barrier shielding off his emotions. She kept his hands in hers as she looked up into his eyes and said: "My dear, do not let this become a reason for you to distance yourself from her. You should get to know her as she is now; I am certain you will come to like her as much as you did as a child."

The Prince simply nodded and his mother stood back up and turned to leave the room – she could tell from his expression and silence that he needed some time alone to think over what she had said.

As soon as the large door closed behind his mother, Loki put his elbows back on top of the desk, once again holding his face in his hands. What should he do now? His mother suggested he should get to know her again, and admittedly he found the idea very appealing, but.. what if Sigyn was no longer the same person she had been? Fool, she is; you can tell she is, he heard himself think. And it was true; he didn't have any doubt that she was still the girl he had known; the one who made him laugh, who had always made him feel better when Thor or his friends had given him a hard time and most importantly the one person, whom he had never doubted accepted him for who he was.

He uncovered his face and turned his head to look at the crumbled flower on the floor, that same feeling of remorse forcing its way into the pit of his stomach and in an instant he had made the flower disappear from the floor only to reappear in the palm of his hand. He made a swift movement with his other hand and the crumbled flower started to move; changing back to how it had looked before he had crushed it – fresh as the day she had given it to him.

After staring at the flower for a while he leaned forward to put it back in the crystal vase, it had occupied on his desk for years, his mind racing over all his memories of Sigyn; it was funny, he hadn't seen the girl for so many years and yet all his memories of her were as fresh as if they had only taken place a day ago – even the first time he had met her stood clearly in his mind.

oOo

Loki was walking through the forest; he was headed towards the meadow that lay on the other side of the forest. The young prince often went there to practice his magic undisturbed, and as he had never come across another person in the meadow, it was the perfect place. His place. At least it had been until this day.

As the meadow slowly came into view, a sound that wasn't normally there reached his ears. Usually the meadow was very peaceful; a few birds would sing at times, but that was it – and the sound the prince heard now was definitely not that of a bird singing.

When Loki reached the end of the forest he saw where the sound was coming from; a girl was sitting in the middle of the meadow, hugging her legs in front of her. Loki walked slowly towards her, noticing her thick braid of dark red hair, and as he got closer he could hear that she was weeping. He regarded her for a second before clearing his throat:

"Are you hurt?" He asked confused; she didn't look hurt.

The girl lifted her head from her knees and looked at him; "n-n-no-o." She murmured.

"Then why are you crying?" The prince asked curiously as he stared into her purple eyes, shining with tears.

"My fa-ather died.." she said, attempting – and failing – to keep er voice steady, and new tears started streaming down her face, as she buried it in her knees once more.

"Oh." Loki said, obviously shocked at the reason behind her tears. "I'm sorry for your loss."

The girl didn't react; she just kept weeping into her knees.

"Do you want to see a trick?" Loki asked after a while, not knowing what else to say to the girl in front of him.

The girl sniffled a bit before she lifted her head to look at him again; "what kind of trick?" She asked, her eyes still glistering from the tears.

"A magic trick." Loki stated with a proud smirk.

To his surprise the girl's face lit up and she turned so she was facing him completely, as Loki sat down, thinking over what trick he should show her. Quickly an idea hit him and he reached out and plucked a blue flower from the ground, showed it to the girl and then he closed his hands around it and squeezed his eyes together in concentration, while the girl fiddled with her long red braid in anticipation.

"Now look at this." Loki said as he opened his eyes and looked down at his hands, hoping the trick had worked. He lifted one of his hands to reveal a blue butterfly sitting in the palm of his other hand.

"Wow!" The girl exclaimed in amazement before reaching out to check if the butterfly was real – which indeed it was. "I've never seen anything so spectacular before!" She said; Loki noticed that the sadness had disappeared from her voice.

"Really?" He asked excitedly at her compliment.

The girl nodded eagerly in response.

"That was nothing." He said simply.

At that statement the girl look almost embarrassed at her own excitement over something that was apparently 'nothing'. She went silent for a few moments before opening her mouth to ask him a question:

"What's your name?"

"What's your name?" He asked back; fearing she would run off if she knew he was the prince.

"I'm Sigyn." She answered with a big smile. "Now you!"

As Loki still didn't reply she pressed on him again:

"Please tell me your name.. pleeeeeeease?" She begged as only a young child could.

"I'm Loki." He finally answered as he looked down, preparing himself for her to run away.

"Oh." She said with a hint of surprise. "Loki. I like that name; 'Loki' … Loki, will you please do another trick?"

He looked up at her in surprise before a genuine smile graced his features; "of course." He told her and considered for a moment what trick to do next. A few seconds later he looked back up at her, "can I borrow a hair of yours?"

She looked at him sceptically for a moment and Loki was sure she would say no, but then all of a sudden she reached up to her head and pulled out a hair that was hanging loosely by her braid and then handed it to him.

He placed the hair in the palm of his hand, like he had done with the flower and squeezed his eyes shot again; this trick was harder than the one he had done for her before – in fact he had yet to succeed with this trick.

Suddenly he felt something move in his hands and as he lifted one hand he opened his eyes and saw a brown worm moving around in his hand.

"Eeeew!" Sigyn exclaimed, but immediately she realised that Loki might mistake it and quickly added; "I mean.. it's an impressive trick! Very impressive! The worm is just a bit.. disgusting!"

Loki threw the worm away from them and looked down frowning.

"Are you upset?" Sigyn asked in confusion, "it really was impressive!"

Loki mumbled something incoherently and Sigyn leaned a bit closer to him, asking him to repeat it.

"It was suppose to be a snake!" He said aloud still wearing a frown on his face, "..not a worm."

Sigyn couldn't stop the laugh from escaping her lips. Loki looked up at her, his frown easing until it vanished and he joined in on her laughter.

As their laughter slowly vanished Sigyn looked up at the boy in front of her, "Thank you." She said with a very serious face that held a gentle smile.

"What for?" Loki asked slightly confused and taken aback by her sudden seriousness.

Her gaze fell to the ground and she started running one of her hands over the top of the grass before she answered: "For making me forget."

AN: Not how I originally intended to end this chapter, but I just thought the whole melancholia/tragic irony(/however you see it) fit so well with that last sentence.

I choose not to let you know how I feel about this one, but I hope you enjoyed it. My mind is being infested by tiredness as I write this, so I hope there wasn't too much OOC-ness - and if there was I'll justify it by reminding you that this takes place years before the events in "Thor" =)

Oh, and as far as age goes in the flashback I'll say that Loki is around 9-10 (appearance-vice at least, cause I imagine them ageing slower as children as well, though not as slowly as when they hit adulthood, obviously.. - and he would be mature for his age!) which means Sigyn is about 2 years younger - that is what I wrote earlier is it not? (goes back to check)

As always; reviews makes me a happy bunny! =D