A/N: This chapter's not so long and I do apologise for this, next one will be up as soon as I can. We are not far from the end now and I just wanted to thank the people who have stuck with this, honestly I never expected it to do as well as this. So thank you for that.

Hope you enjoy.

…

Loki was sitting in his current cell in the dungeons which were otherwise empty for now, making the whole place eerily quiet. He had been there for what felt like ages but had probably only been a few hours and already the light was getting to him. Everything was so bright, it made anything outside of his own cell difficult to see properly, so for now he paced, moving round in endless circles waiting for whatever was next. Waiting to find out where his actions had gotten him. He refused to regret it, at least with that first guard, if he thought he could threaten to rape and abuse his daughter and get away with it, he was sorely mistaken, as he had found out the hard way.

But then maybe that had cost him his life, he could try to plead his reasons and have Heimdall himself as his witness but in the end it was all down to Odin and there was no way the all father could let him live after this, attempting to destroy Jotunheim, attempting to subjugate Midgard and now killing some of his most important guards, his third strike.

He heard a noise, making him twist round quickly, looking towards the entrance to the dungeons, he moved closer to the magic infested walls to try and see better, everything seemed clear. Then he saw a face pop round and when Loki looked harder, he realised that it was Thor. But what in the name of Hel was he doing? He was looking back behind him, trying to sneak between the pillars and hiding behind the cells, then he spotted Loki looking at him and came running over with a big smile that really did not belong on his face.

Loki watched the blond with an incredulous look on his face. "Thor, by the gods what are you doing?" Thor gave him a surprised look which quickly turned sheepish and his posture slumped, making him look like a small child being told off and...Oh.

Loki squinted. "Kalda?" He half whispered. Thor looked at him, his face lighting up and then the glamour dropped and there was his half Jotun daughter. Heimdall himself could only know how she managed to get here. "What are you doing in here? You're going to get yourself in trouble." Loki was happy to see her, he really was, but she shouldn't have come, not here. "And when did you learn to glamour your father?"

"I just thought of daddy and did what I normally do." She had been managing her own glamour pretty steadily for a while now, it made her tired if she was in it too long but she liked to do it herself so Loki had let her. Though it seemed that she had been practising when he wasn't around too. He wondered if Frigga knew about this.

"Where's your father?" Loki sat at the bottom of his cell; she came and kneeled on one of the edges, as close to him as she could get without touching his cell.

"He's in our rooms. He doesn't know I'm here, I sneaked out." She beamed, looking quite proud of herself. Loki ignored his own pride at her daring and gave her a disapproving look. "You shouldn't have done that Kalda; he will be terrified if he can't find you."

"I asked him to bring me here and he said no, so I came by myself. I wanted to see you. When can you come back?" She stared at him through the cell wall, her eyes wide and pleading. He deflated, lowering his glance. Thor had good reason not to bring her here and Loki hadn't wanted her to see him like this.

"Not yet little one. The all father must make some decisions first."

"For what?" She asked. He didn't want to tell her, but he knew she wouldn't let it lie.

"He...might have to...send me away for a while." He felt like slapping himself, lying to her would get him nowhere but he couldn't very well tell her the truth. I brutally murdered some pretty important guards because they said they wanted to rape you and now I'm probably going to be executed by a sword through my back. Of course, she had been there; she had seen the end results though she didn't know what had really happened.

"Why?" She said. Her eyes seemed to get a little teary and his heart sank.

"Because I...well...I...you see..."

"Is it because of what happened with them men before?" Kalda cut in, she was unbelievably perceptive. Loki just nodded. "Oh...well, how long do you have to go?"

"Just...just for a while. And Thor will still be here to take care of you." He knew that wasn't enough but didn't know what else to say. He was somewhat glad to see the actual Thor come running round into the dungeons a short few seconds later, a wide eyed look on his face, he halted and calmed instantly when he saw that Kalda was with him. He marched over and leaned over Kalda, anger in his eyes but Loki could see the anger was only a light cover of the sheer worry and fear that lay behind it.

"Do not sneak off from me like that again, do you hear me? Anything could have happened." Kalda stood up, crossing her arms defensively. "I said I wanted to see him and you didn't listen, who else was going to take me?"

"Kalda don't yell at your father." She had a point, Loki thought, no one else could have really brought her here but Thor was understandably worried about her, the guards would be mad as Hel at Loki after what had happened and Kalda was the perfect target for revenge right now.

Thor stood up straighter, though there was a slope in his stance, the mighty Thor, right now was simply Thor. Loki knew what he was going to say before he said it.

"The all father wants to see you. The guards who were present have told him what happened, and now he wants to speak to you, I've come to escort you to him." He looked down as he spoke the last part, like he wasn't too happy with the idea of having to escort Loki anywhere.

"You mean he actually wants to hear my side?" Loki sneered quietly. "Can he still not make up his damned mind?"

"Loki..." Thor started. "This time...it's...it's not the same...it's out of his hands now. They deemed his own decision to be unfit as this has gotten too personal." Loki huffed; this had been personal from the beginning. "The decision lies with the courts, father wants to hear your side because he's trying to plead your case...this time I fear..." He cut off.

"They're going to send him away." Kalda suddenly stated and Thor looked at her confused, before looking up to Loki who sent him a warning glare which Thor seemed to understand.

"Uhhh...not...not if your grandfather can stop it no. Which is why for now, we take Loki to him and we go from there." He moved to the cell, removing the enchanted lock and turning to pick up the chains hanging on the wall. He shot Loki an apologetic look before moving into his cell and attaching the handcuffs. He didn't bother with the neck or feet restraints, there was no need, Loki would follow.

Loki didn't like being seen like this in front of Kalda but at least he wasn't being beaten half to death while she watched this time. As soon as he stepped out of his cell, she jumped at him, trying to embrace him. He knelt down, placing his bound wrists over her head to hug her better. She wrapped her arms round his neck as he stood up, clearly wanting him to carry her. His neck and part of his face flared up in its natural blue tone as she clung to him. Thor, still looking guilty as Hel, gestured to Loki that they should go and together, they walked.

...

The walk to the throne room was long and tense, but that went without saying. Kalda continued to hold him as tightly as she was before, keeping her head buried in his neck.

Odin and Frigga were the only ones in the room, there were no guards around at all and Loki was thinking that maybe that wasn't a coincidence, since Thor had been the one sent to fetch him. As they entered the room, Odin turned and made a wide gesture with his arms.

"Everyone leave, I wish to speak to Loki alone. Thor wait outside, Frigga will take Kalda to the gardens for a walk." He looked to his wife who smiled, though it was rather grim, her mouth sealing in a thin line and she nodded, moving over to Loki, she hugged him around Kalda, who he was still holding. When they broke apart, Loki turned to Thor, struggling to pass Kalda to him with his hands bound but Thor managed to get her, making eye contact with him and trying to give him a reassuring nod, Loki didn't feel too reassured though, but he nodded back.

Frigga and Thor walked hastily out of the throne room, leaving just Loki and Odin alone, the emptiness of the large room echoing in his ears. Loki was facing away from Odin, not wanting to turn and look at him. He heard the other shuffle, not closer but to the side, then a slightly louder noise before the shuffling stopped and then there was a sigh.

"Dammit Loki." He heard quietly. Loki turned, suddenly angry, his words ready to attack. He stopped instantly when his eyes rested on the king of Asgard. He was sitting on the steps just to the left of him a few feet away, slouching forward slightly, one hand rubbing at his good eye. He looked nothing like a king in this moment; he looked old, tired and sad. Loki's anger seemed to fizzle out at the rather lame sight before him.

Odin nodded once, and then straightened himself up. "I have spoken to the guards involved, the ones still alive anyway, they explained what happened." Loki's heart sank in that moment, it's not like the guards were going to make him sound in any way innocent and the only two guards that had been there when this had started, are dead so all they know was that Loki had gone crazy and started trying to kill them all.

"They did not shed too much light on the situation, so, naturally I went to Heimdall and he made things a little more clear." Loki said nothing, simply watching the old king carefully. Odin wasn't looking at him directly; he seemed to be avoiding his eyes.

"I neither blame you, nor disapprove of your actions, had I been in your situation, no doubt my actions would have been similar and quite frankly, I'm surprised that you kept calm for as long as you did and had the guard survived, he would have been dealt with to a standard that matched the weight of his crime." Loki's eyes subtly twitched in confusion, Odin was praising him for killing his guards?

"And had you still been a prince of Asgard..." He continued. "This would have been the end of it, as you very well know." Ah, Loki thought, of course there was a catch.

"But you are not, you are a prisoner of the palace, awaiting the final sentence of your crimes and circumstances such as these make things very different." Loki nodded once, leaving his head angled down slightly, he had been expecting this. He smiled grimly to himself. So why did he feel so hurt?

"So that's it then..." Loki said slowly raising his eyes back to the all father. "I defend my daughter and am sent to my death."

"Did they harm her?" Odin asked and Loki frowned.

"Oh no, they only threatened, no, promised to rape her!" Loki snapped, suddenly finding his voice. Odin shook his head.

"That won't stand in the courts, Loki. If they didn't physically try to harm her, your actions will be deemed as extreme. You don't have the rights of a prince, you should have simply ignored them and told someone what had happened, this could have been dealt with..."

"And what? Do you know of the things that cretin said about her? About what he would do to her when I am not there to keep her safe?" Loki's arm twitched involuntarily and he looked towards the door where Thor, his mother and his daughter had left, and he suddenly wanted to know where Kalda was, to have her here where he knew she was safe with him.

"I know, Loki, but you should already know that no harm will come to her while she is here with us, Thor, Frigga, I myself would do anything to protect her, and you know this. Was killing them worth the risk of sabotaging your own trial, thus forefitting your life?"

"Yes it bloody well was!" Loki snapped and in that moment it was. That guard had more than disrespected his daughter, he could say what he wanted about Loki but Kalda had never done anything to deserve such spiteful words. Odin sighed.

"You damned fool." He growled. "What of Kalda? Did you not think of her? Losing her mother will not be easy on her..."

"What?" Loki asked, voice quiet but his body started to shake, his eyes gleaming with madness. "I am sentenced to death anyway, under a spell that I can't trick; I was doomed from the start." His voice grew louder. "Whether she loses me now or in just under a year makes little difference to her and it was you that put me there, you set that sentence, no one else, you!"

"No Loki!" Odin boomed. "I gave you the chance to set it right yourself, under that spell there was no way you could lie that is true. I set you that sentence because I knew that you could pass that test, after seeing how you were with Kalda after she was born, I knew you loved her too much to be able to stay stubborn enough not to regret your actions in the past! I couldn't let you off with nothing so I set you the one thing I thought you could handle, the one thing I knew that could still save you!"

They just looked at each other for a moment, Loki not daring to speak, and fighting would get them nowhere at this point, he may as well save his breath. Odin was seemingly out of words, but then he sighed when he saw that Loki was not going to retaliate.

"I assume Thor has told you that the decision is no longer mine to make?" Loki nodded and he continued. "I'll help if I can but I'm afraid you may be at a loss on this one."

"Then, I suppose there is nothing left to say." Loki replied, he paused for a moment before turning swiftly to leave but Odin called him to wait. When he turned round, the old king was standing.

"If they deem you to be dangerous, there may still be hope, dangerous does not warrant a death sentence but if they deem you as a threat, and there is a difference, then we are done for. They won't allow a threat to continue within the palace and the best you would be able to hope for is banishment but this, along with your previous crimes, makes that chance unlikely. I will do what I can but you should make your peace and be ready." This time Odin didn't stop Loki when he turned to leave.

He walked out, not stopping to wait for Thor, who, when he noticed him, had to break into a bit of a jog to catch up with him.

"Wait, Loki." He said as he caught up to the raven haired god who continued to storm his own way back to the dungeons. "What happened?"

Loki ignored him, picking up his pace further until Thor grabbed his arm, making him stop and face him.

"It was as un eventful as I had expected, Thor!" He snapped, shrugging out of Thor's grip. "He wants to try and help but if the courts want me dead, then dead I shall be."

Thor shrank back a little and Loki returned to walking. After a minute, Thor caught up with him again but said nothing. They walked in silence until they reached the dungeons, then Loki just watched Thor expectantly, waiting for him to let him back into his cell and remove the bindings on his wrists. Thor did just that and he went and sat in his usual spot, picking up a book which he had no intention of actually reading as he waited for Thor to leave him alone. He was angry even though he hadn't been surprised by any if the events and he just wished to be left to himself now.

"Father has said that Kalda can visit you whenever she wants, she can go in there with you for a couple of hours a day, I wasn't sure it was a good idea but after earlier...or would you rather I didn't allow her back in here?" Thor asked after a few minutes.

Loki sighed, closing the book. "No, don't stop her, she will just sneak out again and I would rather that if she was going to come down here, it would at least be with someone, she's not safe on her own, not right now." Thor nodded in understanding and then sighed hard and sat at the edge of his cell, where Kalda had sat earlier.

"I feel so helpless, there's nothing to do this time, they either decide for or against you and that's it." He paused, looking like he couldn't decide whether to carry on or not. "You could escape, I could help you, I have access to get you out, Kalda could glamour you..." He started to sound more excited as he spoke but Loki cut him off quickly.

"I will be killed on sight Thor, it wouldn't take them long to find me, don't torment yourself with foolish hopes."

Thor pressed his fingers to his temple and pushed them through his hair with a frustrated groan. "After everything, after everything that has happened...what did those guards' do, to make you react like you did?"

"It was just one of them, he was fowl mouthing Kalda, promising to do awful things once I wasn't there for her anymore and I just...lost it." He decided not to add anything about his previous problems with that guard; he had never told anyone and never would. They could believe he had simply overreacted to what he had said about Kalda and it didn't change anything anyway. "Then the other one attacked me and everything after that was pretty much self defence, I only wanted that one guard dead."

Thor shook his head. "If you had just left it, just told me, he would have been dealt with. Loki, you wouldn't be here n..."

"Yes, thank you Thor, I already had this talk from the all father, I am aware of what everyone is thinking!" Loki snapped. He knew they were right, he should have kept his nerve, ignored the guard and his vile words but he hadn't, and having everyone tell him he was foolish and should have done something else wasn't going to change anything.

Thor leant forward; pressing his face into his hands with a deep sigh he breathed "Loki." Not dissimilar to the way Odin had spoken to him earlier.

"Forget about it Thor, there's no point in dwelling on it, their decision is what they choose it to be, we are useless." Loki said, getting up from his place by the wall and moving towards his bed. "Now, if you don't mind, leave, I do not wish to speak of this further just now."

He had turned away and after a minute he heard Thor sigh again and shift, followed by the sound of retreating footsteps and then he was alone.

...

As he had been allowed, Kalda had come down to see him for a couple of hours a day for the next few days. She stayed for as long as she could until Thor had to take her away and Loki was always sad to see her go. Frigga had been to visit him once too. At first he had been a bit on edge, waiting for her to tell him what a fool he was, how he shouldn't have acted the way he did and the usual but she didn't, not once. She would have known that he had already heard it from Thor and the all father and he appreciated her saving him the ear ache.

He also knew that today was most likely the day that the courts decided what they wanted to do with him but he would only receive word from Thor when he brought Kalda down to visit. This time it wasn't a public ordeal as it had been in the beginning, now they just wanted it over with. Of course, should his execution go ahead, there would be many people there, watching him in his last moments before his world ended at the hilt of a blade.

And then he could hear it, the loud thumping footsteps, followed by some much quieter, faster moving footsteps and he looked up from the book he had been reading repeatedly for the last few days, just for something to do. Kalda came running over and waited for Thor to open the cell door before running in and diving on Loki, trying to wrap her entire body around him to hug him. He held her tightly for a moment, and then let his head glance up to Thor, quirking his eyebrows with a look full on just one question. Thor's expression was grim, but it was the small shake of his head that made Loki's heart sink. His lips tightened into a thin line and he pressed the lower half of his face against the crook of his daughters' neck, closing his eyes for a moment.

"When?" He asked simply, not looking at Thor. The older god couldn't seem to look at him properly either and he fidgeted on his feet for a few seconds, as though trying to somehow escape for answering before finally muttering "two days."