She did not know how long she had been wandering around aimlessly, without having seen or spoken to Loki. To her it had felt like weeks, but she knew it could not have been more than a few days. Loki had kept himself to himself since their small disagreement, Yelena put it down to his duties being more time consuming than perhaps they should be, with war still potentially looming over Asgard. But something did not seem entirely right. Whenever she had tried to go and see Loki in the throne room, she was either denied access or told that Loki was not there, nor did anyone seem to know where he was at times. Even Heimdall could not see him. Her mind thought of every possible scenario, but the truth was far from what she had dreamed up. Loki had done so much and his descent into the broken, lost child had spiralled on. Yelena had no idea of the pact Loki had made with Laufey against Odin.

The evening of another day was drawing in and Yelena was reading in her chambers when the Bifrost was suddenly activated. The noise was a welcome distraction for her, something that brought her back to a more lively state. As she walked out onto her balcony for some air, she could see Loki standing one the main palace balcony – he had watched the Bifrost activation and very quickly turned and walked away with a determined stride. Yelena had assumed that it was he who had travelled from Asgard, but whoever it was seemed to have left Loki troubled. She also knew she had to take another chance to speak to him and quickly headed to the throne room, hoping she would at least catch him on the way. But by the time she had arrived, he had gone, without passing her at any point on the journey. Once again she was left without any idea of what was going on – the guards knew nothing so they could tell her nothing. For a moment, she thought about going and talking to Frigga, but she did not want to intrude on her at such a time with Odin in the condition he was in. Instead, she went back to what she had been doing since her last encounter with Loki, walking around with her mind off in its world of imaginings. Little did she know that as she did this, Loki had gone to the observatory to confront Heimdall, who against his wishes, had allowed Sif and the Warriors to go to Earth to try and bring Thor back to Asgard. Loki had everything planned out – his father would awake having been saved from Laufey by him, he would be accepted as a worthy heir and would be like a true son of Odin. Nothing and no-one would stand in his way, not Heimdall, not his supposed friends, and certainly not the person who had cast his shadow over Loki his entire life. Having used the Casket of Ancient Winters to imprison Heimdall in a layer of ice, he returned to the weapons vault. He would go to any extreme now to succeed, and he resorted to sending the Destroyer to Earth to potentially kill his friends and brother. He did not know whether he intended them to die or not, he just had to stop them returning to Asgard, at least for now. Worthiness. All this in the name of proving himself worthy. His desire and need had completely consumed him.

More time had passed, and Yelena found herself back outside of the throne room. She had once again lost herself in her thoughts, walking around aimlessly until something caught her attention. Cautiously, she walked up to the door which had been left the slightest bit open, pressing face against it to see if Loki was there. He was there. For the first time in what seemed like a very long time, Yelena had her chance to speak to him, to question him about where he had been and to help him if he needed her. Before she had the chance to speak however, upon entering the room a strong vision completely took hold of her. She could see Thor, her friends and…the Destroyer? On Earth? What would the Destroyer be doing on Earth, seemingly fighting against people of Asgard? And then she realised. It was Loki. Only he could control the Destroyer as King. Her heart sank and she struggled to breathe; this could not be true, Loki was many things but cruel and a murderer was not one of them. Loki had noticed her collapse, and as the Destroyer continued to do its work, he momentarily allowed himself to be distracted.

"Yelena?" his voice pierced through her vision like one of his daggers. Her head turned sharply as everything became clear once more.

"Why?" was all she could say, recoiling slightly from his touch. Tears began to fill her eyes as she stared in Loki's – never before had she felt anything but love and affection for this man before her, now all she felt was confusion.

Loki stood, his eyes did not leave hers, but his face dropped. For the first time, she didn't understand him and he knew it.

"I have to prove myself. If Thor returns, my chance is gone. I will carry on living in his shadow, the unworthy adopted child, the inferior child. Could you live with that? Could you live knowing that you never were and never will be equal to your sibling in the eyes of the man you call father? And what of you Yelena? Would you want to be associated with the failure prince if Thor returns and my plan does not work? No. You would not. Nor would I want you to be. If I fail, I am not worthy of you."

This was the first time that Yelena had heard him speak this way. As he spoke, there was a warble in his voice, the desperation evidently growing and taking over him entirely. He was almost a different person to her; Loki for the whole time she had known him had been completely in control of himself and his emotions, but they were beginning to take hold of him. Yelena did not know what to say or do, she stayed there on the floor almost paralysed. Loki waited for her to say something, but when she broke eye contact, he took a deep breath and returned to his throne. Yelena's gaze stayed fixed on the ground for a few moments and she began to once again see the destruction occurring around her friends on Earth. The destruction had stopped, and Thor was now walking towards the Destroyer. He began to speak –

"Brother, whatever I have done to wrong you, whatever I have done to lead you to do this, I am truly sorry. But these people are innocent. Taking their lives will gain you nothing. So take mine and end this."

She heard his words as clearly as Loki did, and a smile suddenly came over her face. The sincerity with which Thor spoke those words took even her by surprise. Yelena had never completely disliked Thor, perhaps at times when he became selfish, but he was like a brother to her and she did care about him. The change that he had gone through was so clear to her, and she let herself hope that Loki would see this too. Perhaps he would wake up from whatever state of mind he had fallen into and realise what he was doing. A hopeful Yelena turned to look at Loki who had risen from his throne as Thor spoke; he looked as though he was truly considering it, that he had realised what he was truly doing. As she brought herself to her feet, the Destroyer turned its back on Thor. But it did not walk away as she had expected. It had turned and struck Thor hard – he flew through the air, landed hard on the ground and in his mortal form, was fatally injured. Yelena wished to see no more. With that strike, Loki had dismissed who he had been up until that point. This sudden realisation broke her heart completely; she could almost feel it shatter inside her. The tears came again, but this time she could not hold them back. This did not go unnoticed by Loki, but he could not seem to understand why she was in such a state.

"Why are you crying?" he asked. Loki genuinely could not see what she was so upset about. He was doing this not only for him, but for her. So she could be queen, so she would not be ashamed by her association with him.

"I am in mourning for the one I love" she replied, her gaze once more fixated on the ground. This reply sent Loki into a fit of anger she had never seen before, misunderstanding her.

"The one you love? Thor?!"

"YOU Loki! I am mourning the loss of YOU! You are not the man I have grown up beside, loved all these years, stood by through anything for so long. I cannot stand by you with this. You have been completely consumed by a childish need, by the idea that you are not worthy, but you have always been worthy of those who love you. How could you do that to your brother? Do you truly think that all of this will help your cause? No Loki, you are lost. Lost to yourself. And it's breaking my heart." Yelena spoke with such passion, such distress and anger that even Loki was surprised. She has never before allowed this side of her to come to light. The strong side of Yelena that had always been there, but had never had reason to come out.

She could not stay in the room any longer. She ran to be anywhere but where she had stood. Loki was now the one paralysed. Her words had shaken him, but it had not changed his mind. The one person he never thought he'd have to prove himself to was now the person he felt he had to prove himself to the most. He had lost so much in such a short space of time and he would not lose her. He would proceed as planned and all would be well. However, he suddenly became aware that he would have to speed up his plan – Thor was alive, and worse, he had regained his powers. Loki had to act and he had to act now. As Thor fought with the Destroyer, Loki headed to the observatory to bring Laufey and some of his fellow Jotuns into Asgard. The final part of the plan was now in motion.