"Wake up, Freya." Those heavily accented words, her voice. What was Wanda doing here?

I stirred, opening my eyes. Wanda stood by my bed - her hair a mess and bags under her eyes. Her blue eyes no longer held any anger like they had when she'd interrogated me. She wore a baggy black sweatshirt and jeans, her nail varnish chipped as usual.

"Wanda... I'm so sorry - for everything," I whispered, sitting up. My hair was greasy against my neck and face, my limbs heavy. I was a mess.

"I'm sorry too." Wanda sat on the edge of the bed and pulled me into a hug, her perfume washing over me. "While you were asleep I looked into your mind - I understand everything now. Why you saved Loki. Why you ran. He saved you from the ice. He was the one thing that finally made you confront the ice and take control of it and I'm glad he did that. It would seem the villain has become the hero."

"You saw what happened with Johnson when you went into my head..." I pulled away from Wanda, playing with the frays on the blanket. "What the ice did. W-what I did..."

"I also saw Loki for who he truly is... He was broken, you were right. You and him are alike in the way that you're both shattered but opposite in other ways. You are only human and he is a God. Fury is glad that we found Loki's weakness." Wanda played with a strand of my hair which had fallen onto my cheek. She tucked it behind my ear, sighing.

"What's his weakness?" I sat up straighter, looking at my friend with wonder. Loki had a weakness? Why hadn't I noticed it?

"You." Wanda smiled. "You thawed his frozen heart. You made the God of Mischief and Lies fall to his knees."

"He said he'd never leave me." I fought against the tightness in my throat.

"Thor hasn't contacted Jane since he left so I don't know..." Wanda pulled me against her chest, holding me close. "He may come back after he finds out- I mean when he sorts out whatever it is he's doing in Asgard."

She was going to say something and then changed the topic. "You're not telling me something, Wanda."

Wanda held onto me tighter, resting her chin on my head. "I'm not allowed to say anything but know this: I will fight for you."

I moved my head to look up at my best friend. "It's bad, isn't it?"

"Freya?" Wanda looked down at me, her lips a thin line and her eyes worried.

"Yes?"

She grabbed one of my hands squeezing it. "I lost my brother there is no way I will lose you too."

I nodded, an uneasy feeling settling in my stomach. What on earth was she talking about? She hadn't answered my question about how bad it was. I mean I knew it was bad: I'd killed Johnson. And I'd never forget that, forget the way he'd looked or the words he'd said as he slowly froze. What Bruce had said... The cell they'd reserved for Loki now had my name on it.

I snuggled closer to Wanda, finding comfort in the warmth of her arms. "You won't lose me, I promise," I whispered. "I came back remember? We still have to find you a boyfriend. And you still have to teach me how to make Paprikash."

Wanda laughed, shaking her head. "I will, I promise. Now you best get ready, you're wanted back at the base. Fury has news of your..."

"Punishment?" I sat up from Wanda, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. They were pale as always - if I ever wanted to impersonate a ghost lets just say I wouldn't need a bed sheet, that's for sure.

Wanda stayed silent, looking away from me as she stood up.

"I've committed a crime - mutiny actually, and... And murder. I knew there would be consequences the minute I saw Mischief sitting on my sofa. I'm ready to face them now, face what I've done." I nodded my head, reaching for my clothes. "I didn't expect to walk out of this and leave it all behind me. If I'm honest I didn't know what to expect at the end of it all."

Wanda walked by my side as I was escorted to the meeting room. They'd put a shock collar on me, Wanda had argued and told them not to but I'd shook my head, letting them slip the device around my neck. They'd cuffed me too - Stark's design - two metallic gloves linked at the wrists which kept the cold inside them. A clever design - the cuffs at the top of each glove could be removed so I could use my hands without freezing anything. Not that I would now - I had control of the ice and that would never change.

All of the Avengers sat in the room before me - all eyes on me. Phil sat next to Fury at the head of the table, his gaze was on some notes scattered across the table. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy. Phil looked like he hadn't slept, like he was having some inner battle right now. Oh shit. Guilt blossomed in my chest, mimicking the same feeling I'd felt when I'd been shot.

Wanda opened the door and slowly walked into the room taking her seat next to Captain America.

I hovered in the doorway. Past the door was my future and I would hear of the consequences of my actions. I put my best foot forward and walked to the end of the table, looking to Phil. He didn't look up. He didn't acknowledge my presence. And it hurt. A lot. I really wished he'd stand up, start yelling at me, do something. Anything but sit silently and play idly with his pen. Act as if I wasn't here at all.

I stood at the end of the table - it was uncomfortable to say the least. I shuffled my feet but I kept my head held high and my jaw clenched. I wasn't going to be some snivelling mess.

"Now that you're here we can begin." Fury looked to me, his gaze impassive and his lips a thin line. "Try anything-"

"And you'll shoot me like you did the other day?" I raised an eyebrow, clenching my jaw. "Thanks for that by the way. I'm never forgetting it."

"Is that a threat?" Fury snapped.

"Only if what you just said was." I shrugged, not looking away from Fury. "Let the mind games begin..."

"You act as if you have no guilt on your shoulders but I know you do, I know it's crushing you. Or maybe it's not - maybe you're as cold as the ice in your veins, in your heart now." Fury cleared his throat, standing up. "I had to ring up Johnson's parents the other day and do you know what I had to tell them?"

I stayed silent, keeping his gaze.

Fury's glare was unnerving as he leant forward onto the table, brown hands placed palms down onto the glass. "They asked me if Loki killed him, killed their only son. And I had to reply that it was one of our own that killed him, that betrayed us. That you betrayed us, betrayed Johnson. That you were the murderer, the guilty one and not-"

"That's enough." The pen dropped from Phil's hand as he looked up at Fury. "She knows what did, she was there. You don't need to remind her of the guilt that I know she feels on her shoulders."

"Phil, I-"

"No, Freya." Phil's gaze finally met mine - it was angry but somehow it didn't feel like the anger was directed at me. "I don't want to hear it. I let you run with Loki because you'd finally found happiness and I knew you understood that there would be consequences when you left. But never, never did I realise that they would be so severe. I would never have let you leave with Loki, never let you out of my sight again."

"Phil, it's not your-"

"But it is!" Phil's voice rose in volume yet he didn't stand or move. "I brought you to S.H.I.E.L.D, this is where it all began and this is where it all ends. I should have been a better role model, a better uncle-"

"No," I snapped, pulling on the gloves. "You couldn't have done any better, Phil. I am my own person and whatever I've done is solely on my head, it's my responsibility and my responsibility alone. Karl's death and Johnson's death are on my conscience and they shouldn't be on yours. I did what I thought was right the night I killed Johnson. He had a gun and he was going to shoot Loki. I jumped in between them and put my hand to Johnson's chest and in doing so... He froze, just like Karl did. I never meant to kill him but I couldn't let Loki die."

"So what? Loki deserved to die." Fury shook his head, nostrils flaring. "Johnson didn't. I set him a simple mission: take Loki out and rescue you."

"You should never have sent him in alone, never sent him in at all. I didn't need rescuing." I shook my head, walking around the table to Fury. "You're wrong about Loki, so wrong. He's changed. Loki just needed someone to care, to understand him. No one deserves to die, you can't control life and death - no one gets to decide that. Not even-"

"Cut the crap," Fury snapped, bring his first down onto the table. "You weren't doing the right thing, he's a monster and he used you. One more step and I'll see if that collar works."

I stopped, glaring at the man in front of me. "No, Loki didn't use me. I chose to save him. I chose my own actions. If he was a monster then he wouldn't have jumped in front of a bullet for me, and I know you can't argue with that."

Fury shook his head again, shifting his gaze from me to the others around the table. Why? "They - the defence council and the UN - want to make an example of you, Miss Swinton, to show the other miracles that they can't get away with what you've done. They've sentenced you to death, over one hundred countries signed the document. Actions will always have consequences, Miss Swinton." Fury nodded his head, turning on his heel and heading towards the door.

His words floated around in my head and made me dizzy. Death. Sentenced to death... I leant on the table, shaking my head. No. I hadn't expected this. I rapidly blinked the tears away. I'd never expected it to come to this.

Stark stood up out of everyone, slamming his hands on the table, his nose still bruised from where I'd punched him earlier in the week. The sudden noise in the silence made me jump. "You can't kill her. She's only twenty one, she's barely lived, Fury. What ever she's done she doesn't deserve to die for it. She's been through enough crap to last her a life time."

Fury paused at the door, looking over his shoulder. "You think that letting her live is better? Johnson is dead because of her and you think it's fair she gets to live?"

Stark moved to stand in front of me. "Living with the guilt is far worse than dying. Survivors' guilt is always the worst. I don't know Freya very well but I know that she would never kill someone in cold blood. She wouldn't kill Loki - a guilty villain - what makes you think she'd kill Johnson - an innocent man - in cold blood? She didn't murder him, it was manslaughter. And murder isn't how the law works."

Fury shook his head. "It's too late either way, Stark, it's out of my jurisdiction," he said, leaving the room and shutting the door. Too late... The decision had already been made. There had been no trial. There'd been nothing.

Two guards entered the room from the same door Fury had left from, heading towards me. I took a step backwards. The back of my thigh hit the table. Dammit.

"I won't let you kill her." Wanda stood up as well, her voice was loud and even. Her hands glowed red.

The guards hesitated but they didn't stop.

Suddenly all of the Avengers were standing up and forming a barricade in front of me. Tensed and ready to fight. Why?

Phil caught my gaze, standing up. "It's already been decided I've tried to change their minds. I begged them not to. I told them it was my fault but they still didn't listen. I'll escort her to her cell, you're both dismissed."

The guards nodded at Phil before leaving the room.

"They have no proof that it was her, it could have been Loki for all we know." Wanda touched my arm with her hand, before reaching up and taking off the collar. "They can't condemn her to death on mere suspicion."

The collar fell to the floor with a thud. It made me jump but it did nothing to rid the numb feeling that was slowly spreading through me. It all seemed so surreal. After everything that had happened, this was it. This was the end.

"They can't just let her walk around - everyone but us see her as a killer, and we all know that people are scared of what they don't know and understand." Phil shook his head, standing up and shrugging on his jacket. His gun shone in his holster as he pressed away the creases in his shirt.

"Send her to the cell and we'll get help." Stark was typing into his phone - his fingers in a flurry on the keyboard. "We'll do some sort of voodoo dance or something and get Loki back. Or we can smuggle her to a cabin I have in Mexico up in the mountains. I have a spare jet and then we can wait until it all dies down and she can live with me and Pepper-"

"Guys, honestly it's fine," my voice was far quieter than I expected. "Some part of me tells me that it's a good thing, that no one else will get hurt."

"No - you're not giving up and neither are we." Stark held my shoulders, looking up at me. "We will find a way. We all saw the other day that you can control the ice. Just hang in there and we'll save you. Hell, we're superheroes and if we can't save one person, if we can't save you then what's the point of us being heroes in the first place? You showed us all that light can be found in the darkest of places, that people who we thought were too far gone are actually capable of being saved. You showed us all what a real hero is - you put someone else before yourself even though everyone else was telling you it was wrong, you stood by your opinions, your beliefs. And what happened with Johnson, it was an accident. Wanda showed us all what she saw in your head, Johnson didn't hold it against you and neither do we."

There was something in Stark's words that made me stand a little taller and hold my head slightly higher. "I don't see how you're going to get me out of this without breaking the law but I'll try to stay positive. Thank you, Stark, everyone."

Stark nodded, squeezing my shoulders. "You do that, ice queen. Everything will be okay." He undid my gloves so I could move my hands. "Best to keep them on for now so Fury doesn't have a melt down. Oops, poor choice of words there..."

I laughed, shaking my head. "Can I go home and get some stuff before I go to my cell?" I turned to Phil, watching him as he reached into his pocket.

He pulled out a pair of car keys. "I'm the director of S.H.I.E.L.D I'm sure I can bend the rules a little bit. Besides, these guys will cover for me." Phil winked at the Avengers, walking up to me and putting an arm over my shoulders. "Come on, trouble, we don't have long."

Raindrops drummed against the window screen, sending a rhythmic hum through out the car. Phil had stayed completely silent the entire ride back which had given me time - plenty of time - to think. About everything. How I'd found Loki on my sofa, to shopping with him, dancing with him, yelling at him, how he'd saved me from myself. And now, well it all seemed as if saving him had come with a far more terrible price then I could have imagined. Death. I'd greeted it once and I was going to meet it again but not by choice this time.

"I brought you into S.H.I.E.L.D to protect you and here we are." Phil's voice broke my thoughts as he stopped the engine and turned to face me.

"Phil, this isn't your fault. Please stop blaming yourself." I reached over and took his hand in mine.

"I'll get you out, you'll see." Phil stared down at our hands, shaking his head.

"Phil?" I waited for him to look at me before I continued "Has anyone not stopped to think that maybe this is for the best? For all of us?"

"This isn't for the best, killing you won't achieve anything at all. You're all I have left and now..." Phil's eyes shone with tears. "Now I'm going to lose you. I'll make a deal with the devil if I have to, to save you, Freya. I'll do anything."

I raised my hand and the single tear that had fallen down Phil's cheek froze. "Loki isn't the devil, no matter how many times that thought has crossed my mind - which is a lot. But thank you, Phil, just don't do anything stupid." I clicked off my seatbelt and leant across the gear stick, hugging Phil.

"I would say the same thing to you, kiddo, but you've already won the title of stupidest decision ever." Phil laughed into my hair.

"And which decision was that?" I asked, looking up at Phil.

Phil kept my gaze. "Surprisingly it wasn't falling for Loki or even keeping him as your house pet, it was actually not telling me what you were doing."

I sat back from my uncle, raising an eyebrow. "If I'd of told you, you would have killed me, you would have been the hulk times one hundred."

"Don't think I'm not angry at you, out of all the bad boys on the planet in the universe - you had to choose Loki. We need to talk about your taste in men, young lady," Phil laughed, shaking his head and looking out of the car window to the house. "You best get your stuff before they notice I've taken you on a recce."

I nodded, opening the car door. "Thank you, Phil, it means a lot."

"It's alright, now go." Phil shooed me from the car.

Rain soaked through my clothes as I ran to the front door. I reached up into the hanging plant pot and got the spare key, opening the door. His smirk didn't light up the darkness. The key clattered on the side as I entered my house, flicking the lights on. They flickered twice before illuminating the room before me. Blue eyes didn't stare at me as I walked into the living room. His voice didn't say 'I was wondering when you'd be home, Midgardian'. There was nothing, just Zeus perched on the sofa. I collapsed next to him, trying to hold myself together. The kitten crawled onto my lap, a piece of parchment tucked into his collar. Parchment... Who the hell used parchment these days? Loki. It had to be. I fished it out, uncoiling it. A neat scrawl spidered across the paper in elegant loops:

Freya,

I promised I would never leave you and I intend to keep that promise. To never see your face again would be a torture far worse than anything my father could ever conjure. I promise you I will come back for you. I briefly visited hoping to see you but you were not here, I assume you are at work sorting out the mess I have left behind. I have fed Zeus seen as though you have forgotten to again, if you forget again I may have to bring him to Asgard.

I find that our love story resembles that of Beauty and the Beast - you changed a monster back into a man. I can think of no way that would suitably repay you for what you have done for me, nor can I think of any way that would show the devotion I feel towards you. All of my life I have lived in the dark, believing no one would care for me, that no one could ever love me. And then - like some petty Midgardian cliche - you walked into my life and changed everything. That I myself could ever feel the vulnerability that is love was a distant dream to me, it was something I never thought I deserved. Yet some how you have thawed my frozen heart and showed me that everyone deserves a second chance. You found me when I was lost and everything had fallen apart, well in all technicalities I found you. It is a pleasure to have let you into my heart, and to have you hold my heart in your hands is something I never thought would happen. Our thoughts only count if we act upon them and our emotions only affect us if we acknowledge them - something I said to you not too long ago and I am glad that you acted upon your emotions. And my dear - I know you adore that term of endearment and besides I am not here so you cannot slap me for using it - you were never and never will be a monster.

Lastly I want to apologise - I shall buy you a new shed, one far grander than the feeble wooden contraption that you owned before. I want to apologise for every harsh word I have said to you and for every harsh word I am to say to you in the future. Both of us are so stubborn and silver tongued there are bound to be more arguments between us, like many that we have shared before. But you must know that when I cannot speak the words I wish to say then look into my eyes - that perfect storm you call it in your thoughts, I read them before you left - and you will see my true feelings. I love you, Freya Sigyn Swinton and now that I have said it to you it feels real, like I am not in a dream. I am glad my father cast me out or I would never have met you.

Yours only,

Loki Laufeyson, the God of Mischief and Lies.

Small droplets smudged the ink of the letter, accompanied by more and more. The letter he'd written... It was so beautiful. Loki spoke as if we had the future in front of us, but we didn't. I didn't. Zeus snuggled into my chest, purring, as the letter fell from my hands to the floor.

I pressed my palms to my face, crying harder. "I don't want to die, Zeus," I sobbed.

Arms were around me and pulling me closer. "Hey, it's going to be okay." The smell of coffee washed over me just like it had before, just like the day Phil had found me after my parents had died. I leant into him, reaching down to hold Zeus close. The reality of the situation had finally sunken in...

Four walls made of a metallic grey structure. A single door which only opened outwards. I sat on a plain bed inside my cell, fiddling with the gloves on my hands. Stark had come in and made them more comfortable with an automated temperature control system. There was a single chair in the corner of the room and a table but other than that the room was bare and cold, even by my standards. Cameras blinked in each corner of the room, watching me at all times.

Ten days. The waiting was horrible. I had so much time to think. Ten days and I couldn't do anything but sit.

A small knock sounded before Wanda strode into the room, two plates in her hands.

"Wanda, what are you doing here?" I shuffled over on the bed, making room for her.

"I couldn't stand hearing Fury and everyone argue. So... I made us some paprikash." Wanda held out the plate of steaming food for me.

"Thank you." I took the food, finding comfort in the spices that filled my nose. "Looks like I'm not getting a happily ever after."

Wanda shook her head, handing me a fork. "You will. I know you will."

"How?" I asked, taking a mouthful of the spicy food. It tasted so good after the porridge I'd had this morning and the dull dinner I'd had the night before.

"Loki will find out what's happening and he'll save you, I know he will. Phil showed gave me this -" Wanda set her plate on her lap and reached into her pocket, handing me a crumpled piece of fabric "- I read it, he really loves you, Freya."

I took the piece of paper and set it on my pillow. "He might not know what's happening though, he's busy being a God now." I picked up more food, relishing in its warmth and flavour.

Wanda shook her head, hair falling into her eyes as she set her spoon down. "I got inside his head when he was dying. He didn't care that he wasn't a God. He didn't care that he was dying. All he cared about was that he may never see you again. He knew that if he died he wouldn't be with you. It was like watching a Nicholas Sparks novel adaptation movie - the way he looked at you, the way you looked at him." Wanda smiled at me, her eyes crinkling at the sides.

A small smile crept across my face, most of the plate empty now. "I hope he turns up before my ten days are up."

Wanda put an arm around me, squeezing me. "I know he will. Now eat, before they notice I'm in here and make me leave. Stark broke the cameras but Fury will figure it out eventually."