Another few months flew by, and Sigyn had made good progress in her physical and magical training. While the progress was encouraging to Sigyn, Sylvath's declining health worried her. Both she and Armallia kept watchful eyes on him. The reality that he would soon leave her life permanently began to grow on Sigyn. She spent almost all of her spare time by his side hoping that her constant presence would help her hold on to him should death try to tear him away. Despite his failing health, Sylvath insisted on continuing Sigyn's training. It was after a particularly tiring day of training that Sigyn had her third, and final encounter with Loki.

Sigyn had bathed after returning home, and had decided to enjoy a book in the garden before dinner. She slipped on a deep blue gown and silver circlet, and headed towards the gardens. She made herself comfortable on the ledge of the fountain and began to devour her book. It wasn't till the sun began to set that Sigyn realized that she had lost track of time. She quickly rose from her spot to head in for dinner when a sudden bout of lightheadedness hit her. It was not uncommon for her to feel that way when rising too quickly, but this time something was different. Sigyn immediately recognized this as the feeling she had had the first two times she had seen Loki, and she prepared herself for whatever she might face this time.

All Sigyn had to do was blink her eyes and she was once again on the strange planet from before. She ducked her head around her usual boulder and caught sight of Loki. Sigyn could only see his back, but she could tell something was different about him. In their earlier encounters Loki had been dressed in some strange version of his everyday Asgardian attire, but this time he was wearing a modified version of his ceremonial armor, complete with cape and helm. Sigyn was about to call out to him when a second form caught her eye. At first she expected it to be the strange creature from the first vision, but she quickly realized that this was not the same being. The creature from before had been fairly nondescript, but this new entity was very unique. He towered over Loki, which was not a common occurrence, and had deep blue eyes that contrasted starkly to his reddish-purple skin. The newcomer had an extremely square jaw and an expression that stirred both fear and worry for Loki in the pit of Sigyn's stomach. Sigyn knew that she couldn't allow this creature to discover her so she invoked a concealment spell and stayed silently in her spot.

"The time has come for you to lead my army to Midgard." The creature rumbled.

"And once it is conquered and the Tesseract is in your control?" Loki asked.

"Midgard is yours, as per our agreement." The creature smirked. "This staff contains a piece of the Tesseract, and will allow you to open a temporary portal to Midgard."

Loki took the staff into his hands, and Sigyn could see that it radiated with a strange blue light.

"I warn you Asgardian, if you try to cross me and take the Tesseract for yourself there will be no place in the Nine Realms that I will not be able to find you. I hope I do not need to reiterate the punishment should you fail…"

Loki scoffed before replying. "I have no fear of failure, and I will have no need of the Tesseract once Midgard is mine."

"My army will await your signal." The strange creature replied before leaving Loki.

Once he was alone Loki turned around and Sigyn could see his face plainly. The expression he wore was one Sigyn had never seen before. His eyes looked blue, and his smile spoke plainly of the ill intentions that were swimming in his head. This was not the Loki she knew. After quickly lifting her concealment spell, Sigyn called out to her brother.

"Loki!"

He jerked his head up from the staff to stare at her.

"You again?" He asked in a cold tone.

"What do you mean 'you again'?" Sigyn asked as anger started to spread through her.

Loki rolled his eyes. "Do you honestly believe I will fall for this, you are merely an illusion just like last time."

"An illusion!? What do you mean? I am your sister Loki!" Sigyn replied in a raised voice.

"Are you?" he scoffed.

Sigyn reeled inwardly. How could she convince him that she was real? She felt the urge to move towards him, but she couldn't…could she? Sigyn took a breath and tried to step out from her hiding spot. To her surprise she was not hindered in her movement. She slowly made her way from the boulder and towards Loki.

"Loki listen to me, I do not know who that creature was or what he has done to you, but it really is me."

Loki took a step away from her with a look of skepticism on his face.

"How can I prove it to you?" She pleaded.

"You can't." He stated solemnly.

"Please Loki, I am Sigyn." She tried again while moving towards him slowly. "Leave this wretched place and your twisted mission behind. Come home with me. Come back to your family!"

"What home? What family? I have neither, or didn't you know?" Loki provoked. "Oh that's right, you weren't even on Asgard when the truth about me came to light."

Sigyn's face fell. "I know what you did on Asgard Loki, I know it was you who let the Frost Giants in at Thor's coronation. I know that you tricked Laufey into coming to Asgard under the pretense of betraying the AllFather…" Sigyn would have continued, but was cut off by Loki's bitter voice.

"Enough! I don't need you to lecture me on my actions. What I did, I did for Asgard. For the AllFather, but was it good enough? No. Do you know what Odin's last words were to me? 'No, Loki.' I don't know why I was so surprised by it, the only thing he ever told me was 'no'!" Loki fumed.

Sigyn remained silent as her brother did some much needed venting.

"As bad as all that may be, that is not what I was referring to when I spoke of the truth about me coming to light." He continued, his voice becoming dangerously calm. He began to circle Sigyn as he spoke. "My life was a lie Sigyn. I was never an Odinson, I am the son of Laufey." He was standing behind Sigyn, whispering in her ear at this point. "I am a Frost Giant."

Sigyn stood still expecting Loki to walk away from her, but he made no move to do so. His breath flit across the back of her neck, and Sigyn began to feel uncomfortable with the situation.

"I warned you not to go to Jotunheim…" she admonished.

Sigyn was not prepared for Loki's next sudden action. He swiftly grabbed her arm and flung her against a nearby boulder. He was on her before she had a chance to recover, and he pinned her to the cold stone with his hand while placing the point of his scepter at her sternum. For a moment Sigyn considered fighting back, but she couldn't pull herself to harm Loki. It was obvious to her that he wasn't in his right mind, and she needed to find a way to force him to see reason.

"You knew about my parentage didn't you?" Loki interrogated.

Sigyn refused to respond, and instead kept her gaze locked with his.

"Didn't you!?" Loki reiterated, allowing his grip on her neck to tighten painfully.

"Yes." She replied telepathically.

Loki loosened his grip enough for Sigyn to speak normally before asking his next question. "How long have you known?"

"I always knew."

Before Sigyn could comprehend what was going on, she found herself sprawled on the walkway in Sylvath's garden. Her right cheek was burning, and she could feel a trickle of blood flowing from her nose and busted lip. She pulled herself onto the ledge of the fountain and studied her reflection in the fading light. Her right cheek was red and was already beginning to bruise from the force of Loki's blow. She hurriedly healed her injuries before either Sylvath or Armallia had the opportunity to see her. A warm tingly sensation flooded her face, and she knew that her magic was taking effect. Once the warm feeling began to subside Sigyn placed her hand on her cheek. It was just beginning to sink in that Loki had struck her

…

Loki's rage flared for a moment before the realization of what he had just done sunk in. The illusion of Sigyn had not just been an illusion after all: it had been her. Loki looked down at his hand, there was blood smeared on it from Sigyn's nose and lip. Of all the people in the Nine Realms that he could have harmed, it had to be her. Thanos' visions and illusions were no longer a fantasy they were reality. Loki truly was the monster that he had seen in his nightmares. In all honesty he supposed that it shouldn't surprise him, he was a Frost Giant after all. He had been born a monster.

The thought of his true heritage rekindled the fires of hatred within Loki. Sigyn had admitted to knowing, to always knowing, so why had she never told him? Did she, like Odin, believe that he was not capable of handling the truth? Whatever her reason, it no longer mattered. Even if Sigyn didn't hate him for being a Frost Giant while they were growing up, she would certainly hate him for the monster he had become. As Loki wiped Sigyn's blood from his hand he came to terms with the fact that he had just alienated his best, and possibly only friend.